The hackers succeeded. Data was indeed stolen from the servers of the city of Lille during the cyberattack which targeted the community on March 1, the town hall said on Friday, reporting a ransom demand.
The investigations “carried out by the judicial police (…) then by the technical experts, confirm that data was taken from certain servers of the City of Lille, of which it appears that some would be of a personal nature”, specifies the municipality, in a communicated.
Access to professional messaging suspended
Four municipal agents had received, on Wednesday, “via their personal messaging a message according to which information would have been recovered allowing the request for a ransom”, adds the town hall. Contacted, she did not wish to comment on the nature of the stolen data, nor on the credibility of the ransom demand.
Since March 1, the computer services of the city and the associated municipalities of Lomme and Hellemmes have been largely disrupted by the attack. Access to the professional messaging of elected officials and agents remains suspended, according to the town hall, which forces users to take many steps on paper.
The swimming pools, the museums and the zoo, whose entry had remained free for the first two weeks for lack of a computerized cash register, are again paying since Wednesday, but only in cash or checks. It is, moreover, still not possible to borrow books in the media libraries.