French submarine-maker targeted by hackers

Telegraph

12 hours ago

A French naval giant is investigating a potential cyber attack after hackers claimed to have obtained sensitive data about the country's nuclear submarines.
Naval Group, a state-owned ship maker that traces its origins back almost 400 years to the reign of Louis XIII, said it had 'immediately launched technical investigations' after cyber criminals threatened to publish files on the dark web.
The company builds and maintains key ships and submarines for the French Navy, including aircraft carriers and nuclear-powered submarines. These include France's Barracuda fleet of nuclear missile-armed submarines.
In a post on a dark web forum, hackers claimed to have uncovered 'top-secret classified' data for 'submarines and frigates'.
Hackers gave the company 72 hours to respond to the leak, with initial documents published online allegedly including source code for submarine weapon systems.
The attackers have so far published around 30 gigabytes of data, although they claim to have far more information still to be disclosed.
Naval Group has responded by insisting it had found 'no intrusion into our IT environments', and described it as a 'reputational attack'.
A spokesman said: 'Naval Group has noticed being the target of a reputational attack with the claim of a cyber-malice act. We immediately launched technical investigations.
'All teams and resources are currently mobilised to analyse and verify the authenticity, origin and ownership of the data as quickly as possible.
'At this stage, no intrusion into our IT environments has been detected and there has been no impact on our activities.'
The alleged hack comes amid a wave of cyberattacks against companies and governments.
Last week, Microsoft admitted to a major flaw in its SharePoint document-sharing system, which is believed to have been exploited by hackers with links to China.
Among the organisations targeted were the US National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains America's nuclear arsenal, although no sensitive files were reported to have been taken.
Naval Group is France's largest shipbuilder, employing more than 15,000 people with revenues of more than €4.4bn. The French government owns almost two-thirds of the business, with he remainder owned by Thales, the French defence giant.