IS cyber attack downs TV5
April 9, 2015
French broadcaster TV5Monde is trying to regain control of its 11 channels and websites after an “extremely powerful” cyber attack by so-called Islamic State.
The attack began around 10pm French time on Wednesday, said Yves Bigot in an interview on RTL radio, and the hackers knocked out the TV channels and posted material on the broadcaster’s Facebook and Twitter feeds. “We’ve been able to restore broadcast of one signal on across all of our channels but cannot send out pre-recorded broadcasts nor restart the production of our news shows,” he said.
The broadcaster is working with police and national security authorities. According to French news agency AFP, the hackers posted documents they claim are the identity cards of relatives of French soldiers involved in anti-Islamic State operations, and threats against the troops.
TV5Monde is broadcast in over 200 countries globally.