French Media Groups to Hold Emergency Meeting after Isis Cyber-attack

THE GUARDIAN: Culture minister calls talks after television network TV5Monde is taken over by individuals claiming to belong to Islamic State

France’s culture minister is to call an urgent meeting of French media groups to assess their vulnerability to hacking after the public service television network TV5Monde was taken over by individuals claiming to belong to Islamic State, blacking out broadcasts as well as hacking its websites and Facebook page.

All TV5Monde broadcasts were brought down in a blackout between 10pm and 1am local time on Wednesday to Thursday by hackers claiming allegiance to Isis. They were able to seize control of the television network founded by the French government in 1984, simultaneously hacking 11 channels as well as its website and social media accounts.

Experts say the cyber-attack represented a new level of sophistication for the Islamist group, which has claimed complex hacking before, but nothing as big as this. The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a terrorism investigation into the attack.

The culture minister, Fleur Pellerin, said she would bring together all heads of big French TV companies as well as newspaper groups and the news agency Agence France-Presse within 24 hours “to assure myself of their vulnerable points, any risks that exist and the best way to deal with it”. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris and Samuel Gibbs | Thursday, April 09, 2015

Isil Hackers Seize Control of France's TV5Monde Network in 'Unprecedented' Attack

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: TV5Monde still unable to broadcast anything but pre-recorded programmes on its 11 channels after "unprecedented" cyber attack as French government denounces "act of terrorism"

Hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) on Thursday seized control of TV5Monde, France's international TV network, knocking out its 11 channels, website and social media accounts in an attack the government dubbed an "act of terrorism".

TV5Monde was still struggling to regain control of its channels on Thursday morning, forced to broadcast only pre-recorded programmes after what its director called an "unprecedented attack in the history of television" in which its systems were "severely damaged".

Yves Bigot, the network's chief, said he was shaken when a black screen appeared across the entire network at around 10pm local time on Wednesday night.

"When we discovered the sense of the message appearing on our social media and our websites, it both allowed us to understand what was happening and obviously worried us," he told RTL radio. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Thursday, April 09, 2015