Cyberattack in Ardenne Métropole, the City of Charleville-Mézières, and its CCAS
In the wake of a series of cyberattacks, Ardenne Métropole, the City of Charleville-Mézières, and its CCAS (Communal Center for Social Action) were not spared.
Paralyzed in early March by a ransomware cyberattack, 2,000 employees lost access to their computers, files, emails, and software.
““A very large portion of our servers in the information system infrastructure were encrypted, causing problems for the entire system” as explained by Philippe Pett, Director of Information Systems for the city and the metropolitan area.
To restore the system, the in-house IT team worked with experts. However, because the backups had been corrupted, it took time to reconstruct the data that had been accumulated over a long period.
Once the complaint was filed (the day after the attack), the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office took up the case. It assigned the investigation to the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police.
As of now, officials still do not know whether any data has been stolen.
It is worth noting that much of the data stolen by cybercriminals is particularly valuable and sought after on the Dark Web. For example, payroll data—such as full name, address, and Social Security number—is extremely lucrative for hackers specializing in phishing, who are ready to sell it to carry out their malicious activities..
