14 DAY TRIAL // On Wednesday evening, ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) militants took control of all TV channels, social media accounts and the main website belonging to TV5Monde, setting darkness on all activity of the global broadcaster.
Based in Paris, the television network operates 11 channels, and its programs are received in over 200 countries.
Hackers post messages with threats against French soldiers' families
The attack, which is the largest one suffered in 30 years by the media company, started on Wednesday evening, shortly after 22:00 GMT+2 (Paris time), when the intruders gained access to the broadcaster’s social media accounts and main website.
Yves Bigot, CEO of TV5Monde, confirmed the attack last night in a video on Facebook (available below), saying that a very powerful cyber-attack affected the broadcaster and led to its inability to emit on any of the channels, which all displayed a black screen.
Messages in French, Arabic and English with threats against the company and glorifying the Sharia law were posted on the social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter), as well as on the homepage of the website. Next to be affected were the computer network and all broadcast antennas.
The hackers (CyberCaliphate division) also published identification documents and CVs of relatives of French soldiers involved in missions against ISIS; these were accompanied by a message for the soldiers, asking them to keep away from ISIS, hinting that otherwise their families would suffer.
CEO believes the attack was premeditated
Control over the hijacked assets was reclaimed around 01:00 GMT+2, but the website continued to be offline at the moment of writing. It read, “We are currently under maintenance. Thank you for your patience.” At the moment of publishing, the website appeared to be restored.
On Thursday morning, Hélène Zemmour, director of digital TV5Monde told francetv.info that the television started to re-transmit a program in certain areas.
Restoring all systems to normal should prove to be a very tough tasks, since the attack was carried out from inside the network, Zemmour said.
Yves Bigot believes that the incident was planned, since system access attempts from unidentified individuals had been previously recorded.
Coincidence or not, the attack occurred on the same day the TV5Monde Style channel was launched. It is received in the East Maghreb East area and Asia Pacific, and it is dedicated to presenting the French lifestyle, which is far from jihadists' liking.