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Over 1,000 French Sites Hacked Since Charlie Hebdo Attacks

Over 1,000 French Sites Hacked Since Charlie Hebdo attacks
PARIS, FRANCE - JANUARY 14: A 'je suis charlie banner' is wrapped aorund trees on January 14, 2015 in Paris, France. Released today, an initial three million copies of the controversial magazine Charlie Hebdo were printed in the wake of last weeks terrorist attacks with an additional two million copies of the magazine scheduled to be printed. (Photo by Kristy Sparow/Getty Images)
Kristy Sparow via Getty Images
PARIS, FRANCE - JANUARY 14: A 'je suis charlie banner' is wrapped aorund trees on January 14, 2015 in Paris, France. Released today, an initial three million copies of the controversial magazine Charlie Hebdo were printed in the wake of last weeks terrorist attacks with an additional two million copies of the magazine scheduled to be printed. (Photo by Kristy Sparow/Getty Images)

Paris, Jan 14 (AFP) More than 1,000 French websites have been targeted by self-described Islamist hackers in the week since the attack by jihadists on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo left 12 people dead, Internet security experts said today.

Most of the hacks targeted relatively small sites operated by local government, universities, churches and businesses whose home pages were defaced with messages that included "Death to France," and "Death to Charlie."

Experts told AFP that "cyber-jihadist" hackers from North Africa and Mauritania have claimed responsibility for the hijacking of over 1,000 sites since the January 7 Charlie Hebdo attack, and have threatened a surge of activity on January 15.

"For now it has been more cyber-vandalism than sophisticated, high-level attacks. We're not yet dealing with very structured groups," Francois Paget, an expert with software security company McAfee said.

Because of that, according to other industry insiders, it was difficult to know what form the threatened hacking on January 15 might take.

"On Thursday we may see, for example, attacks on higher-profile sites, organised group action, or a (complete) change of technique," said Gerome Billois, senior manager at computer consultancy Solucom.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.