France sees 19,000 cyberattacks since terror rampage

Hackers have targeted about 19,000 French websites since a rampage by Islamic extremists left 20 dead last week, a top French cyberdefense official said today as the president tried to calm the nation's inflamed religious tensions.

France is on edge since last week's attacks, which began January 7 at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Calling it an unprecedented surge, Adm. Arnaud Coustilliere, head of cyberdefense for the French military, said about 19,000 French websites had faced cyberattacks in recent days, some carried out by well-known Islamic hacker groups.

The attacks, mostly relatively minor denial-of-service attacks, hit sites as varied as military regiments to pizza shops but none appeared to have caused serious damage, he said. Military authorities launched round-the-clock surveillance to protect the government sites still coming under attack.

"What's new, what's important, is that this is 19,000 sites that's never been seen before," Coustilliere said. "This is the first time that a country has been faced with such a large wave."

Among the groups suspected of launching the attacks, French officials named MECA: Middle East Cyber Army, Fallaga team and Cyber Caliphate.