French authorities have confirmed that the National Assembly website was brought down on 28 March 2023 by a cyberattack claimed by a pro-Russian hacking group.
The group NoName057(16), which has been behind a series of recent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in protest of French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform and his relationship with Ukraine.
The group had also recently targeted Polish airport and e-government websites after Warsaw delivered Leopard tanks to Ukraine, as well as sites in Denmark, the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
Russian groups have previously been linked to backing French protests and anti-establishment demonstrations.
National Assembly officials have not yet confirmed whether the cyberattack came from Russian hackers, but are working on identification.
The hacker group boasted on its Telegram channel that the site “can’t recover all day after our attack”, and also claimed to have targeted the Senate’s website, although it was still available on 28 March. The French citizens have taken to the streets in large numbers to protest against the government’s plans to raise the retirement age, but also against Macron’s use of a constitutional tool to pass legislation without a vote in parliament.
Last week, French MPs narrowly refused to take down the government in a confidence vote.
In response to the cyberattack, the National Assembly has been working to restore the website.
The French authorities are taking the issue of cyberattacks seriously, and are keen to identify and punish the perpetrators.
This attack follows a series of cyberattacks on government institutions and corporations in recent years, highlighting the importance of strong cybersecurity measures.
