Hackers supporting the Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) conducted a successful cyber attack on French television network TV5Monde, taking over full control of network’s broadcast, Facebook page and websites on Wednesday evening.
Yves Bigot, the director general of TV’s broadcast told AFP that:
“We are no longer able to broadcast any of our channels. Our websites and social media sites are no longer under our control and are all displaying claims of responsibility by the Islamic State.”
The hack was announced by TV5Monde itself through its official Twitter account ( That means the hackers couldn’t take over station’s twitter handle).
Nos sites, nos comptes de réseaux sociaux, nos antennes ont été piratés hier, peu après 22H. http://t.co/wEEJiHlrfr via @francetvinfo
— TV5MONDE (@TV5MONDE) April 8, 2015
The official website of TV5Monde (tv5monde.com) was hacked and defaced by hackers with an image and threat messages in French, Arabic and English language.
While visiting the site, users can see a maintenance message in French language.
The verified Facebook page of TV5Monde was also hacked and defaced by hackers with images of their own. The profile image and page’s banner was change to ‘Cyber Caliphate Je suISIS’ images.
"Cybercaliphate Je suis ISIS" (page Facebook de chaine francophone TV5 a été piratée par pro ISIS) pic.twitter.com/UszyDPGDA1
— Gilles Klein (@GillesKLEIN) April 8, 2015
Hélène Zemmour, Director of TV5Monde said this is the biggest cyber attack they have ever seen.
This is not the first time when pro-ISIS hackers hacked such a high profile institution. The Chile’s Ministry of Defense, UAE’ oldest newspaper Al Ittihad, Newsweek Twitter account and Malaysian Airlines Website are among some top hacks from the hackers.
At the time of publishing this article, the Facebook page of TV5Monde was restored. However, the website was still under maintenance.
Stay Tuned.
