Hacker 'usurps' French ministry's social media account

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) - Questions are being asked after a French government social media account was hacked on Tuesday morning, despite the country’s efforts to block cybercrime.

The Culture Ministry's Twitter account was “usurped” between 1 a.m. (1100GMT) and 5 a.m. (0300GMT), the government said in a statement.

A flow of insulting tweets and "inappropriate" messages have since been deleted.

The hacker claimed to be the 13-year-old son of the community manager of the ministry's Twitter account.

It is not the first time French officials have had accounts hacked. During this year’s presidential campaign, several candidates were the targets of malicious attacks, in particular current President Emmanuel Macron.

His team blamed the attack on Russia and took elaborate steps to throw hackers off the scent of genuine information about Macron’s campaign.

Last month, several French companies and banks, including construction materials company Saint Gobain and France's biggest bank BNP Paribas, were victims of a worldwide attack.

The French police’s cyber division has opened an inquiry and has warned a virus could hit all versions of Windows software.