At the speed of a pandemic, computer attacks are on the increase, especially in recent months.
Almost everywhere in the world, they paralyze businesses, slow down the functioning of institutions, even those that one would have thought better armed against piracy.
Local communities are not immune to the phenomenon.
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After Bondy, Pantin victim of a cyberattack?
Last fall, pirates had given sweats in two towns in Val-de-Marne.
A few days apart at the beginning of November, the town halls of Vincennes and Alfortville had indeed each been affected by a cyber attack by "ransomware" or "ransomware" This Tuesday, the PS deputy based in Alfortville, Isabelle Santiago, has elsewhere seized the Minister of the territories Jacqueline Gourault on the subject.
Many cities affected
Using ransomware, hackers break into computer systems, then indiscriminately siphon off all the files they find on their way, before encrypting them to make them unreadable.
The municipality then receives one or more ransom demands in bitcoin cryptocurrency in exchange for a decryption key giving back access to the files.
An often very expensive sesame: this Tuesday afternoon, a bitcoin was exchanged for a little over 28,000 euros.
During this time, the municipal services are more or less disturbed, the mailboxes are milling in the void, some are tearing their hair in front of their screens ...
This type of computer ransom does not only affect large towns in the department or, very recently, in the provinces.
Marolles-en-Brie, one of the smallest towns in Val-de-Marne, located on the Plateau Briard, with a little less than 5,000 inhabitants, has just been added to the list of victims.
"The town did not give in to blackmail"
"Like several private companies and several municipalities, our town hall was the victim of a malicious attack on its information systems on the night of December 17 to 18, 2020," confirms the town hall in a press release published on Tuesday.
This "ransomware" type attack is accompanied by a ransom demand in exchange for the encryption key.
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Faced with this now well-known process, the competent authorities are on the job to track the perpetrator (s).
"The National Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI) was immediately notified to investigate this malicious attack, and on their advice, the town did not give in to the blackmail of computer hackers", underlines in the same document the town hall of Marolles-en-Brie, which was slowed down for a week.
Arrived six months ago at the helm of this commune of Plateau Briard, Alphonse Boye (SE) does not wish to communicate on this matter, and leaves the specialists to investigate.
DR
Ransomware rented by cybercriminals
Mayor (SE) of this town for barely six months, Alphonse Boye does not wish to comment on this affair.
The chosen one is careful not to indicate the number of bitcoins claimed by the pirates.
It remains strategically silent.
"The mayor did not wish to make a public announcement immediately after the attack, so as not to interfere with the ongoing investigation procedure", explains the town hall, without saying more.
Specialists in the matter are more talkative.
Especially on those who are behind this attack.
“Like other hacker groups, Avaddon works like ransomware for hire by cybercriminals who then share the fruits of their loot with the designers,” analyzes Brett Callow, cybersecurity expert at Emsisoft.
It appeared in the middle of last year and, like many other ransomware, does not attack targets in countries of the former Soviet bloc.
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Priority: strengthen the security of computer access
The town hall of Marolles-en-Brie is obviously not inactive in the face of the attack: “The town's IT partners have been informed in order to strengthen and ensure the security of IT access.
A notification of a personal data breach was also made to the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (Cnil).
Among the inhabitants, this ransom operation questions, even worries.
"I wonder what these pirates could have found in the computers of the town hall", slips Patrick, who readily defines himself as "a ball in data processing".
Alphonse Boye said nothing about the content of the documents in the possession of the pirates.
According to our information, while more than 90 gigabits of data have been collected, only a very small amount can be found on the DarkWeb today.
Communities, “prime targets” for pirates
“Why did you attack Marolles?
“Wants to know Brigitte, who loves her“ small town without history ”.
"Hackers are not targeting communities in particular, they are sending malicious e-mails on a massive scale and hooking the first to bite the hook", explained last November Jérôme Soyer, technical director for Europe of Varonis, an American company specializing in detection of cyber attacks.
“They are, however, prime targets due to somewhat obsolete IT systems, limited internal skills and a general lack of awareness among municipal employees and elected officials,” points out the expert.
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ANSSI has published a guide with the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) in order to make communities aware of the risks of cybercrime.
An approach seems necessary, in view of these increasingly common attacks.
