Pierluigi Paganini March 15, 2020

While the Coronavirus is spreading worldwide, a massive cyber attack hit the town hall of Marseille and the metropolis.

Ahead of the 2020 municipal elections in Marseille that will take place on 15 and March 22, a ‘massive and widespread’ cyber attack hit the city of Marseille as well as the metropolis Aix-Marseille-Provence

The 2020 municipal elections in Marseille aims at electing the councils of the eight sectors of the city, the municipal council and the metropolitan council of Aix-Marseille-Provence.

According to a press release published by the city, the massive cyberattackj will have no impact on municipal elections.

The National Information Systems Security Agency (Anssi) confirmed that the attack crippled some 300 machines in the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis as well as in Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône).

“Some 300 machines were made inoperative according to the National Information Systems Security Agency (Anssi), on the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis as well as in Martigues ( Bouches-du-Rhône ), a source close to investigation.” reported 20Minutes website. “This will not affect the elections, but they are machines that were to create the proxy signing lists. Therefore, these will have to be done by hand, said the source.”

The town hall already confirmed that “the municipal elections would take place normally.

According to sources informed of the fact, the cyber attack is unprecedented in its scale. The authorities confirmed that the town hall of Marseille and the metropolis were hit by a ransomware that was able to bypass defense measures that were adopted. At the time there are no details about the attack and the family of ransomware that hit the city.

“Despite the extreme precautions taken every day to protect computer equipment and protect against viruses and hacking, this cyber attack, unprecedented in its scale and its strike force, could not be avoided,” declared Martine Vassal in a press release published by the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis headed by Martine Vassal that is also a candidate for mayor of Marseille.

“This attack is based on” ransomware “(ransomware), malicious software that blocks access to a computer or files by encrypting them, while demanding that the victim be paid a ransom,” the city said. It also specifies that the technical teams are hard at work to make a precise diagnosis of the compromised systems in order to “stop the propagation” of this attack and to “limit the impact”.

Local and national authorities are working together to restore the operations as soon as possible, while the National Police’s Cybercrime Unit is investigating into the incident.

“The backup and recovery systems should help limit the damage and recover most of the data,” Vassal added.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Marseille)

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