Over 1,000 French sites hacked since attacks

More than 1,000 French websites have been targeted by self-described Islamist hackers in the week since the attack by jihadists on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo left 12 people dead, Internet security experts say on Wednesday.

Most of the hacks target relatively small sites operated by local government, universities, churches and businesses whose home pages were defaced with messages that included “There is only on God, Allah,” “Death to France,” and “Death to Charlie.”

Experts tell AFP that “cyber-jihadist” hackers from North Africa and Mauritania have claimed responsibility for the hijacking of over 1,000 sites since the January 7 Charlie Hebdo attack, and have threatened a surge of activity on January 15.

“For now it has been more cyber-vandalism than sophisticated, high-level attacks. We’re not yet dealing with very structured groups,” Francois Paget, an expert with software security company McAfee says.

Because of that, according to other industry insiders, it is difficult to know what form the threatened hacking on January 15 might take.

“On Thursday we may see, for example, attacks on higher-profile sites, organized group action, or a (complete) change of technique,” says Gerome Billois, senior manager at computer consultancy Solucom.

— AFP