French government websites are down. A massive DDoS attack knocked them offline. Reports are blaming Russian hackers. The attack hit several sites, including the Administrative Court of Paris, the French Health Department’s ansm.sante.fr, and the Court of Cassation.
Anyone trying to access these sites got a warning saying their connections weren’t secure. No one could get through. French officials are scrambling to get things back online, but there’s no telling how long this will take.
Cybersecurity sources, like Entropia Intel, say the attack might be revenge. Why? It looks like it’s because of the arrest of Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram.
Pavel Durov
Pavel was picked up in France on August 24. A lot of people in the crypto community think it’s all connected. They’re not happy. President Emmanuel Macron quickly jumped in with a statement. He said Pavel’s arrest wasn’t political.
Yeah, right.
Macron said France supports free speech and expression. He tried to calm things down by saying the courts, not the government, would decide Pavel’s fate. But let’s be real. Not everyone’s buying it.
Crypto fans and free speech advocates are fired up. Gabor Gurbacs, a former director at VanEck, called out Macron, saying:
“You arrest the guy then see if he did something wrong? Is this the ‘rule of law’ and ‘freedom of expression’ you’re talking about?”
Good questions.
Vitalik Buterin, the legend behind Ethereum, and even Elon Musk want Pavel released. Vitalik has criticized Telegram before, saying it wasn’t serious about encryption. But now, he’s worried. He told us that:
“The charge seems to be just being unmoderated and not giving up people’s data. This looks very bad and worrying for the future of software and comms freedom in Europe.”
French prosecutors released an update earlier that said Pavel could be held until August 28. The charges against Pavel are vague but heavy. They’re talking about a lot of stuff.
They’re saying there’s complicity in running a platform for illegal deals. They accuse him of refusing to give up information needed for legal wiretaps.
They’re even mentioning stuff about minors and illegal images. That’s not all. There are claims of drug trafficking and fraud. And don’t forget money laundering and providing unapproved cryptology services.
