The fibre optic networks of major telecommunications operators, including SFR and Bouygues Telecom were vandalised on Sunday night following attacks on a high speed rail network on Friday.
These deliberate acts of vandalism have disrupted services in six regions across the country, though Paris, currently hosting the Olympics, remains unaffected.
The attacks have led to significant disruptions, with fibre optic cables cut in southern France.
John Bradshaw, Akamai’s director of cloud computing technology and strategy comments on the cuts. “When you have a fibre cut on land, service providers bring to task an assortment of specialised equipment, including special fibre repair trucks (essentially repair labs on wheels) that enable the almost-microscopic repair of countless fibre strands with tremendous precision.
Fibre optic cables are critical infrastructure, which makes them an appealing target for malicious actors. The root of the problem is that our online infrastructure is concentrated into a handful of providers and data centres, creating ‘choke points’ that can be attacked and cause significant disruption. A more distributed model for our digital infrastructure, where networking and computing power is spread more evenly across the country, would help reduce the number of points where a physical or cyberattack would be successful.”
The French newspaper Le Parisien and BFM TV reported on the widespread nature of the damage. Netblocks, confirmed the resulting disruptions, showing that multiple internet providers experienced significant service issues.
Marina Ferrari, the French secretary of state for digital affairs, confirmed the news and stated that the Defence Electronic Communications Centre is collaborating with the affected operators to restore communications and services as swiftly as possible, with the situation being monitored under her supervision.
Ferrari stated on X, formerly known as Twitter, "I condemn these cowardly and irresponsible acts in the strongest possible terms".
According to France's telecom regulator, ARCEP, over 10,000 customers have been affected.
