PARIS — Hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State simultaneously blacked out 11 channels of the French global TV network and took over its website and social media accounts Thursday in what appeared to be the most ambitious media attack so far by the terrorist group.
The message on the TV5 Monde website read, in part, “Je suIS IS”
(“I am IS”) with a banner by a group that called itself Cybercaliphate.
Anti-terrorism prosecutors opened an investigation into the attack, which began late Wednesday and blocked TV5 Monde from functioning part of the day Thursday. Operations were re-established Thursday evening.
France’s interior minister, while counseling caution until investigators find hard evidence, said the attack was probably a terrorist act. “Numerous elements converge to suggest the cause of this attack is, indeed, a terrorist act,” Bernard Cazeneuve said at a news conference. France is “absolutely determined to catch those who want to strike at its heart,” the minister said.
