Adding a crisis to the coronavirus crisis: this is the objective of hackers who are currently attacking. France is currently the third most targeted country in the world, according to information collected by Europe 1 from network observers, cybersecurity specialists. Institutions, large companies, hospitals, communications operators, essential infrastructure: all are the target of more or less powerful digital attacks aimed at destabilizing them.
"By attacking vital infrastructures, by attacking companies, by attacking our information system, the aim of pirates is to create an over-crisis to the already existing crisis", analysis for Europe 1 Edouard Jeanson, security manager at Capgemini France .
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Chinese, Russian, Iranian hackers
Well known in IT circles as "APT 41", the main hacker group is based in China, but others are also very active from Russia or Iran. They act both on behalf of their state and for their own benefit, according to experts, with the aim of bringing down our system.
Thus, in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, the Public Assistance of Paris Hospitals (AP-HP) was hit on March 22nd by a denial of service attack (DDos type), aimed at drowning computer servers under false requests in order to make them inaccessible. The computer systems of Spanish hospitals and the World Health Organization (WHO) have also suffered more or less similar attacks.
Risks associated with telework
Institutions or large strategic infrastructures are not the only targets. The computers of employees currently teleworking are also in the crosshairs. "There are lots of possible attacks and telework can be an access," warns Edouard Jeanson on Europe 1.
"You have to be extremely careful about what you click on and what you use in your home. 'Deconcentration' during teleworking can open gaps that allow hackers to gain access to your company's information system and steal or hack data. "
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Frozen attachments
To carry out their offensives, hackers deploy great means. Tens of thousands of fraudulent internet addresses have been created and numerous rogue attachments containing malware have been circulating in recent weeks. These attachments are massively sent to French internet users and companies, making France the third most targeted country in the world these days.
The common point of these hacking attempts is the word "Covid" which incites to click to open an attachment supposed to contain an information notice or instructions supposedly sent by his own company. Through these malicious programs and other fraudulent sites, hackers are trying by all means to infiltrate businesses and infrastructures to better paralyze them from the inside. A phenomenon that was also identified by Europol analysts in a report released on Friday.