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Leading international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) was recently the victim of a cyberattack that interfered with its IT systems and affected how its clients received content. Although AFP’s global news coverage remained unaffected, the hack resulted in disruptions to certain services offered to its partners.
AFP is currently working alongside the French National Agency for IT Systems Security (ANSSI) to address the situation and resolve the effects of the attack. However, details regarding the type of cyberattack or those responsible remain unclear. The organisation has not yet identified the perpetrators or their motives.
AFP delivers multilingual news services to numerous countries, some of which may be disrupted by the recent cyberattack.
Headquartered in Paris, the company operates in 150 countries and employs over 2,400 staff across 260 cities. The news agency delivers services in several languages, including French, English, Arabic, Portuguese, and Spanish. Although AFP has not disclosed which client services were specifically affected by the incident, it is known for offering real-time news feeds, subscription-based content services, customised news packages, and extensive content archives, some of which may currently be unavailable due to the attack.
In response to the breach, the company has alerted other media companies that FTP credentials used to receive AFP content could have been compromised. The organisation has advised its partners to change their passwords and review the security of their systems to ensure they are protected from further threats.
France has faced a number of significant cyberattacks in 2024, affecting both public and private sectors. Earlier in the year, a breach at healthcare providers Viamedis and Almerys exposed the personal information of 33 million individuals. Shortly after, a cyberattack on France’s unemployment agency, Pôle Emploi, led to the compromise of data for around 43 million registered citizens.
In April, Hospital Simone Veil in Cannes experienced a cyberattack that the Lockbit 3.0 ransomware group later claimed. Furthermore, during the Olympic Games in August, cybercriminals targeted Grand Palais Réunion des musées nationaux (Rmn), a key cultural institution in France.
No ransomware organisations have taken credit for the AFP hack, which is still being looked into. The event is yet another warning of the growing danger of cyberattacks in France, where major institutions are still being targeted by cybercriminals looking to cause disruptions or steal confidential data.
