Cyber Incident Victim: RMC
Date:
Mar 2024
Location:
France
Summary
BFMTV and RMC, media outlets under the Altice group, experienced a cyberattack targeting their social media accounts, claimed by the hacker group Epsilon. Malicious messages, including content hostile toward Russia and supportive of Palestine, were posted before being gradually removed. The victim mobilized teams to restore access and secure the compromised accounts, while initiating legal proceedings to identify those responsible for the intrusion.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On March 23, 2024, BFMTV and RMC—media outlets owned by Altice Media—experienced a coordinated cyberattack targeting their social media accounts. The intrusion resulted in unauthorized actors posting malicious content across the platforms, with hostile messages appearing on BFMTV’s X (formerly Twitter) account. These posts included politically charged statements directed against Russia, such as “Bah then @KremlinRussia_E we lost members? That will teach you to speak ill of President Macron,” alongside pro-Palestinian sentiments. The hacker group Epsilon claimed responsibility for the breach, marking their second major attack in March following an earlier incident targeting French IT firm LDLC. Altice Media confirmed the compromise in a public statement, noting that malicious content was “progressively being deleted” by response teams. The attack occurred amid a significant corporate transition for BFMTV, which had been acquired by Rodolphe Saadé’s CMA CGM group from Altice on March 15, though no direct link between the acquisition and the breach was established in available reports.
Altice Media’s incident response involved immediate containment measures, including the removal of compromised posts and platform-level remediation. The organization publicly announced via X that teams were “mobilized to restore the situation” and initiated legal proceedings to identify the perpetrators. No operational disruptions to broadcast activities or internal IT systems were reported, with impacts confined to social media communications. The company emphasized its intent to pursue prosecutions against the attackers but disclosed no technical details about the intrusion vector or data compromise. Epsilon’s motives remained unconfirmed, though the content of the fraudulent posts suggested geopolitical provocations unrelated to Altice’s corporate changes. BFMTV’s leadership structure, including Director General Marc-Olivier Fogiel’s retention under CMA CGM ownership, was unaffected by the incident. Public statements from Altice reaffirmed operational continuity while acknowledging the reputational risks posed by the social media compromise.