It’s been over a week since the terror attacks in Paris, France that left 17 dead, 14 wounded and a whole nation shocked, scared, confused and exposed. Now, as cyber attacks on France continue, this nation faces more turbulence.
In the past eight days, there has been approximately 19,000 cyber attacks in and on France. Some of them, have been carried out by radical Islamic hacking groups. Thankfully, most have been minor annoyances and have caused no serious damage or destruction. But all aspects of life from the French military to pizzerias have been hit. But it’s the quantity of the attacks that have many security experts and authority figures alarmed. “…19,000 sites, that’s never been seen before,” said Adm. Arnaud?Coustilliere, who is head of the French military’s cyber defense program. According to Arbor Networks, in the past 24 hours alone, there has been almost 1,100 attacks. These attacks have been ‘denial of service’, meaning the website simply doesn’t function. It’s frustrating for the customer and could possibly be crippling for a business, especially one like a pizzeria.
Personally, I think only a minority of these attacks are done by radical Islamist. They want to do far more damage. But when I say this tragedy leaves France exposed because it exposed the racism, Antisemitism , and ethnic tensions that has plagued France for many years. In fact, it’s gotten so bad that many Jewish people in France are leaving and moving to Israel. Is this tension spilling out into the cyber world? I know the media has portrayed togetherness since this attack has happened. But crises can also bring out a lot of ugliness that’s been seeping in the human spirit waiting to spill out. Is it spilling out into the French cyber world? Millions of people are already on edge. Are they taking it out by causing these minor cyber attacks? Or is something more sinister going on here?
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