Keystone-SDA
This content was published on 06 August 2024 – 01:29
(Keystone-ATS) The Grand Palais, a venue for the Olympic Games in Paris, and some 40 museums in France have been hit by a ransomware attack. The perpetrators of the hack demanded a ransom and threatened to release the encrypted data, according to a police source.
Cybercriminals targeted the system allowing the “centralization of financial data” of businesses located within these locations on the night of Saturday to Sunday, the source said on Monday.
Contacted by AFP, the French IT security agency (ANSSI) confirmed that it had been “alerted to the incident”. It “does not affect information systems involved in the running of the Olympic and Paralympic Games”, it specified.
The Louvre not affected
On the museum side, the Grand Palais confirmed that it had been targeted by a cyberattack, but did not wish to provide details on the subject. Initially mentioned as being among the targets that may have been affected, the Louvre denied in the evening that it had been.
According to the police source, an investigation has been opened, in particular for attacks on an automated data processing system and organized extortion. It has been entrusted to the cybercrime brigade (BL2C) of the Paris judicial police.
Ransomware exploits security vulnerabilities in a company or individual to encrypt and lock up their computer systems, demanding a ransom to unlock them.
