French Museums Hit By Ransomware Attack

IT systems used by about 40 French museums, including the Grand Palais, have been targeted by a ransomware attack.

The French newspaper Le Parisien revealed on August 5 that the attack was detected by the Grand Palais’ IT director, who observed unusual activity on the night of August 3-4.

On investigation, he found that this activity was due to a ransomware attack targeting systems used to “centralize financial data” for approximately 40 museums in France, including the Grand Palais.

The IT director notified the French cybersecurity agency (ANSSI), in charge of cybersecurity for the Olympics.

France’s Anti-Cybercrime Brigade (BL2C), a specialized unit of the French national police force dedicated to fighting crimes committed in cyberspace, started investigating the case.

Le Parisien reported that the attackers have encrypted parts of the museums’ systems, requested a ransom in cryptocurrency and threatened to leak data if the victim had not paid within 48 hours.

The response of the targeted museums remains unknown.

While the Grand Palais is currently hosting several Olympic events, ANSSI confirmed that “this incident does not affect information systems involved in the running of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

After initially being mentioned as a possible target by the police source, the Louvre later denied being impacted by the attack.

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