French defense company targeted by cyberattack

ISTANBUL

A leading French defense company has confirmed being targeted by a "reputational attack with the claim of a cyber-malice act" after a hacker claimed to have more than a terabyte of data, according to a statement by the firm.

"In a global context marked by international, commercial and informational tensions, with more and more destabilization attempts, Naval Group has noticed being the target of a reputational attack with the claim of a cyber-malice act," the defense firm confirmed over the weekend in a written statement on X.

The statement came after a hacker had claimed to have more than a terabyte of data from the Naval Group on July 23, and published 30 gigabytes of data considered to be top secret on a dark web forum on July 26, the French technology website Numerama reported on Monday.

The company confirmed to Numerama the authenticity of the leaked documents, while assuring that none of the revealed documents were classified as top secret.

"Considering the facts and the sovereignty issue at stake for Naval Group and the necessity to protect our clients' data, a complaint has been filed to shed light on these acts," the company further wrote in its statement.

It also noted that they immediately launched technical investigations in close collaboration with French authorities.

"All our teams and resources are currently mobilized to analyze and verify the authenticity, origin and ownership of the data as quickly as possible. At this stage, no intrusion into our IT environments has been detected and there has been no impact on our activities," the company added.