It has been two weeks, this Wednesday, that the municipality of Lille has been operating in slow motion after the hacking of its computer system. An intrusion detected in the middle of the night, on March 1, of which we do not know the ins and outs. The fact remains that since then, the city’s computers have been turned off and the investigation by the judicial police continues. But this Wednesday, there is something new.
“Four agents from the city of Lille have received, via their personal messaging service, during the past few hours, a message according to which information has been recovered allowing the request for a ransom”, explains the municipality in a press release. It is not known how much the authors of the messages claim or what kind of information they have. “We have no evidence to substantiate this request,” the statement added.
Real pirates or petty opportunists?
Indeed, it could just as well be the authors of the piracy as the smart guys, strangers to this attack, but seeing it as a good way to make money. “Obviously, this situation was immediately reported to the CNIL, ANSSI and the judicial police”, specifies the town hall. Internally, municipal agents were reminded of the basic rules if they were to receive such an email: do not reply to it, do not open any associated attachments and immediately report the message to their hierarchy.
On the operation of the city, we remain in degraded mode to ensure the continuity of public service. The city had wanted to keep the cultural and sports structures open despite the impossibility of operating the ticket offices. And for lack of being able to restart the machines, it is an old-fashioned ticket office which will be set up on Thursday, paper format, payable in cash or by check.
