A cyberattack on the French Ministry of the Interior was confirmed by the Interior Minister on Friday. The attack, detected between Thursday night and Friday morning, successfully compromised the ministry’s email servers. While the threat actors gained access to some document files, officials have not yet confirmed whether any data was actually stolen from the ministry’s systems. In response to this security incident, the ministry immediately implemented measures to strengthen its security protocols and tighten access controls for all personnel using its information systems.
French authorities have initiated a formal investigation to determine the exact origin and the full scope of the attack. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez indicated that investigators are currently considering various motives for the attack. These possibilities include acts of foreign interference, activists aiming to expose vulnerabilities within government technology, or a case of simple cybercrime. The minister confirmed the breach, stating that an attacker was able to access a number of files, and that standard protection procedures were promptly put into place following the discovery.
Given the Ministry of the Interior’s role in supervising national police forces and overseeing internal security and immigration services, it represents a highly valuable target for various malicious actors, including state-sponsored hacking groups and common cybercriminals. This attack follows past incidents involving high-profile targets in France. In a relevant precedent, France had previously attributed a major hacking campaign that impacted several French entities over a four-year period to the APT28 hacking group, which is publicly linked to Russia’s military intelligence service.
GET 50% Discount for VPN/ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE AT 911Cyber - CODE: bit5025
A report released by the French National Agency for the Security of Information Systems indicated that APT28’s list of targeted French organizations was broad. The targets included ministerial entities, local government administrations, research organizations, think-tanks, aerospace companies, and organizations within the French Defence Technological and Industrial Base, as well as entities in the economic and financial sectors. This shows a history of complex and widespread targeting of French interests.
Furthermore, the APT28 group has a recent history of focusing on Roundcube e-mail servers, which aligns with the email server compromise in this new attack. Since 2021, these attacks by APT28 have primarily been focused on stealing strategic intelligence from governmental and diplomatic organizations and think tanks across North America and several European countries, notably including France and Ukraine. The pattern suggests that French government systems remain a persistent target for sophisticated hacking operations.
Source: French Interior Ministry Confirms Cyberattack On Government Email Servers