Three days before Christmas, a cyberattack knocked France’s national postal service offline, disrupting deliveries and online payments.
Impact on La Poste
The incident, described by La Poste as a “major network incident”, was first reported more than eight hours before Monday evening and remained unresolved. The company delivers 2.6 billion packages annually and employs over 200,000 people, so the outage was a significant blow. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack rendered its online services inaccessible, yet the company said customer data was unaffected. Letters and holiday greeting cards could still be mailed, but any transaction requiring tracking or access to internal computer systems was impossible.
Effect on Banking Services
La Banque Postale, La Poste’s banking arm, was also hit. Customers could not use the mobile application to approve payments or conduct other banking services. The bank redirected approval requests to text messages instead. “Our teams are mobilized to resolve the situation quickly,” the bank posted on social networks.
Suspicions and Investigation
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicions ranged from a disgruntled customer or colleague to a link with Russia. Workers at a post office in southern Paris questioned a Russian connection, but officials did not comment on the culprit. Paris prosecutors were examining the case.
Recent Cyber Attacks in France
The disruption came a week after France’s government was targeted by a cyberattack that hit the Interior Ministry. In that incident, a suspected hacker extracted a few dozen sensitive files and gained access to data on police records and wanted persons, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on broadcaster France-Info. He blamed “imprudence” at the ministry for the breach. French media reported that a 22-year-old was detained.
Counter-Espionage Investigation
Also last week, prosecutors said France’s counter-espionage agency is investigating a suspected cyberattack plot involving software that would have allowed remote users to control computer systems of an international passenger ferry. A Latvian crew member is in custody facing charges of having acted for an unidentified foreign power, officials said.
Broader Context
France and other European allies of Ukraine allege that Russia is waging “hybrid warfare” against them, using sabotage, assassinations, cyberattacks, disinformation and other hostile acts that are often hard to trace back to Moscow.
Key Takeaways
- La Poste’s DDoS attack halted online services and disrupted package delivery.
- La Banque Postale redirected banking approvals to SMS while mobilizing teams to resolve the outage.
- France has faced a string of cyber incidents, including attacks on the Interior Ministry and a suspected ferry-control plot.
The cyberattack underscores the vulnerability of critical infrastructure during peak periods and the ongoing challenge of attributing responsibility in the digital age.
