New York, April 9, 2015–The French-language global TV network TV5Monde was disrupted for three hours on Wednesday night by hackers claiming to belong to the militant group Islamic State, according to news reports. The hackers seized control of 11 channels as well as the network’s website and social media accounts, the reports said. TV5Monde restored its signal by Thursday morning, but said TV broadcasts would take longer to return to normal.
“We denounce the cyberattack on TV5Monde that paralyzed its entire communications network and urge French authorities to do their utmost to identify and punish those responsible,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. “This attack underscores that the news media is vulnerable around the world and on every platform.”
The cyberattack comes three months after a fatal attack on the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, in which eight journalists and cartoonists were killed. On January 14, 2015, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, issued a statement in which it claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack, according to news reports.
UPDATE: This statement has been corrected to reflect that TV5Monde is a French-language global network.