Russia, Not ISIS, Responsible for TV5Monde Attack
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 10/11/2016 09:08 AM
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Although the ISIS group Cyber Caliphate took responsibility for the attack on TV5Monde, the director-general has told the BBC that the attack that took the French station off air in April 2015 was actually carried out by Russian hackers.
The April attack took 12 stations off the air and almost crippled the station. "We were a couple of hours from having the whole station gone for good,” Yves Bigot, the director-general, told the BBC.
"We were saved from total destruction by the fact we had launched the channel that day and the technicians were there," said Bigot. "One of them was able to locate the very machine where the attack was taking place and he was able to cut out this machine from the internet and it stopped the attack."
The attackers first penetrated the station in January, but did not put the targeted malware into their system until April.
Although ISIS was first believed because of their claim, investigators were able to track the attack back to the infamous APT 28 group, affiliated with Russia.
Because of the seriousness of the attack, the station was unable to connect to the internet for a number of months. Staff was reduced to using fax machines rather than email.
The cost of the attack was estimated at $5.6 million.
Source: Info Security
The April attack took 12 stations off the air and almost crippled the station. "We were a couple of hours from having the whole station gone for good,” Yves Bigot, the director-general, told the BBC."We were saved from total destruction by the fact we had launched the channel that day and the technicians were there," said Bigot. "One of them was able to locate the very machine where the attack was taking place and he was able to cut out this machine from the internet and it stopped the attack."
The attackers first penetrated the station in January, but did not put the targeted malware into their system until April.
Although ISIS was first believed because of their claim, investigators were able to track the attack back to the infamous APT 28 group, affiliated with Russia.
Because of the seriousness of the attack, the station was unable to connect to the internet for a number of months. Staff was reduced to using fax machines rather than email.
The cost of the attack was estimated at $5.6 million.
Source: Info Security
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