[LINK] France computer attack from China

[Jan Whitaker]

"French government comes under cyber attack
March 7, 2011 - 9:14PM

The French finance ministry has shut down 10,000 
computers after a "spectacular" cyber attack from 
hackers using Internet addresses in China, officials and reports said Monday.

The hackers were hunting for documents relating 
to the Group of 20 (G20) developed and developing 
nations, which this year is led by France, said 
Budget Minister Francois Baron, adding that a 
probe was under way into the attacks.

"We have leads," Baroin told Europe 1 radio, 
saying that what he called a "spectacular" attack 
was "probably the first time" that the French 
government's computer system had been hit on this scale.
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President Nicolas Sarkozy is determined his G20 
legacy will be the reform of the world financial 
and trade system, in order to iron out the 
imbalances that led to the recent global economic crisis.

In order to win emerging nations' backing for his 
market and exchange rate regulation plans, he has 
put development aid and a world tax on financial 
transactions at the heart of his ambitious programme.

The attacks on the French finance ministry, which 
took place in December, forced the ministry to 
"significantly strengthen its security systems," 
said Dominique Lamiot, secretary general of the finance and budget ministries.

Paris-Match magazine said Monday the finance 
ministry had come under sustained cyber attack since December.

A senior official who declined to be named told 
the magazine's website that pirated documents had 
been redirected to Chinese Internet addresses.

Lamiot said around 100 computers in the 
ministry's central services division had been 
"compromised" in the attacks but individuals had 
not been targeted by the hackers.

"A maintenance operation (at the weekend) has led 
to 10,000 computers being taken off line out of 
the 170,000 which the ministry runs," he said, 
adding they should be back online later Monday.

He said hackers were interested in "international 
matters" rather than domestic documents.

Patrick Pailloux, director general of the French 
National Agency for Information Technology 
Security, told Paris-Match that the hackers were 
after "documents related to the French presidency 
of the G20 and to international economic affairs."

"The actors were determined professionals and 
organised. It is the first attack of this size 
and scale against the French state," he added.

The ministry has filed an official complaint with 
the French courts and the French secret service has taken up the case.

The G20, whose members account for 85 percent of 
total world output, became the top global forum 
in the wake of the 2008 crisis. France will head 
the group until November, when Mexico is due to take over.

The G20 countries last month reached agreement on 
a series of economic indicators to measure 
imbalances within and between countries, with the 
goal of helping nations avoid a repeat of the 
problems at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis.

© 2011 AFP"

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/french-government-comes-under-cyber-attack-20110307-1bl8z.html




Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
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