European intelligence agencies now devote as much time to investigating suspected Russian interference as they do to countering terrorism, underscoring how cyber sabotage has become a central security challenge across the continent. That warning gained urgency this week after a pro-Russian hacking group claimed responsibility for a cyberattack that crippled France’s national postal service during the peak Christmas delivery period.
Cyberattack Paralyzes La Poste During Holiday Rush
The hacking group Noname057(16) said it carried out a distributed denial-of-service attack that knocked La Poste’s central computer systems offline on Monday, according to French prosecutors. The disruption remained unresolved by Wednesday morning, prompting France’s domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI, to take over the investigation, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. As a result, postal workers were unable to track package deliveries, and online payments at La Poste’s banking subsidiary, La Banque Postale, were also affected. The timing proved especially damaging, hitting the public service at its busiest moment of the year and impacting an organisation that employs more than 200,000 people nationwide.
A Familiar Group With a Broad European Target List
Noname057(16) is no stranger to European security services. The group has previously targeted Ukrainian media outlets and a range of government and corporate websites in countries including Poland, Sweden and Germany. In July, it was the focus of Operation Eastwood, a coordinated international law enforcement effort involving authorities from 12 countries. That operation dismantled more than 100 servers worldwide, led to arrests in France and Spain, and resulted in seven arrest warrants, six of them for Russian nationals. Despite the scale of the crackdown, the group resumed operations within days and has remained active, continuing to strike French government targets such as the Ministry of Justice, as well as several prefectures and city administrations.
Rising Suspicions of Hybrid Warfare
The attack on La Poste followed closely on the heels of another serious cyber incident disclosed by the French government. Officials said a breach affected the Interior Ministry, which oversees national security. In that case, a suspected hacker extracted dozens of sensitive documents and gained access to information related to police records and wanted individuals. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told Franceinfo that investigators were treating the matter with the utmost seriousness, noting that “foreign interference very often comes from the same country,” though authorities have not formally attributed responsibility.
Sabotage Extends Beyond Cyberspace
French prosecutors last week also revealed that counterintelligence agents are investigating a suspected cyber sabotage plot involving software designed to enable remote control of computer systems aboard an international passenger ferry. A Latvian crew member has been detained on suspicion of acting on behalf of an unidentified foreign power. Officials again stopped short of naming a culprit, but the case added to mounting concerns about coordinated hostile activity targeting European infrastructure.
France and other European allies of Ukraine argue that Russia is conducting a sustained campaign of “hybrid warfare,” combining cyberattacks, sabotage, disinformation and even assassinations to destabilise Western societies and erode support for Kyiv. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western officials have attributed scores of incidents across Europe to Moscow, ranging from arson attacks on warehouses and vandalism to railway sabotage. Against that backdrop, intelligence officials say the sheer volume and complexity of Russian-linked interference cases now rivals the resources traditionally devoted to tracking terrorist threats.
