Brussels, 13/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is currently checking to see if any other television channels have been hacked into, said Digital Economy Commissioner Günther Oettinger in the German press on Sunday 12 April following last week's cyberattack on French TV channel TV5 Monde.
He added that the Commission had requested information from the French government in order better to determine the origin of the attack and how it was carried out. “We are also examining whether this was the first attack in Europe - this isn't yet completely clear”, he stated.
The Commission is investigating, too, whether, in the wake of the attack which paralysed the channel's equipment during the night of 8-9 April, the network and information security directive (NIS directive) needs to be toughened up. Trialogue talks between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers are due to resume on 30 April with a view to adoption before the summer break (see EUROPE 11272). In fact, the “beefing up” would be extension of the list of companies required to inform the competent authorities of any possible network anomalies.
Greater transparency and cooperation are required in this area, added Oettinger, underlining that “well organised information exchange between the member states on cyberattacks and flaws in digital security could significantly improve our level of safety” (our translation).
European Parliament rapporteur on the NIS directive Andreas Schwab (EPP, Germany) said that the attack on the French channel was not an isolated event and that other cyberattacks had been reported over the last few months. This “has demonstrated once more that Europe needs more protection and resilience against cyberattacks”. He deplored the slowness of the Council on the arrangements and scope of the directive. “It would be irresponsible to wait any longer with the adoption of the directive”, he argued, urging the Latvian Presidency to bring forward a concept based on clear majorities at the meeting on 30 April.
In the evening of 12 April, Belgian newspaper Le Soir was also the victim of a cyberattack, though there is nothing at this stage to link this with the TV5 Monde attack. “We are as yet uncertain as to the nature of the attack and a full assessment is currently being undertaken by our computing services. For the moment, there is nothing that would allow us to make a link with the cyberattack suffered by TV5 Monde but we are sure that Le Soir was specifically targeted”, said the group in a press release on Monday afternoon (our translation). (Isabelle Lamberty)