Cyber Incident Victim: Communauté de communes Chalosse Tursan
Date:
Jan 2023
Location:
France
Summary
A high-level technical cyberattack targeted a regional French communal community, resulting in complete server data erasure despite existing protective measures. Immediate crisis response coordination involved the organization's IT provider, national gendarmerie cybercrime specialists, and state authorities to prioritize service continuity and infrastructure reconstruction. While critical operations like childcare, youth programs, and library services maintained reduced functionality, the primary focus remained restoring personalized support systems for beneficiaries. A formal complaint was filed with law enforcement following the incident, with leadership emphasizing collaborative recovery efforts supported by regional officials.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 3 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
The cyberattack against the Communauté de communes Chalosse Tursan occurred during the night of January 1 to January 2, 2023. The intrusion, characterized by a high level of technical sophistication, bypassed multiple existing security systems and resulted in the complete erasure of data stored on the organization’s primary server. Upon confirming the attack on January 2, the intercommunal authority activated a crisis management team to coordinate urgent response measures. This team collaborated closely with the community’s contracted IT service provider, relevant French state agencies, and the cybercrime division of the national gendarmerie. By January 3, the organization had formally filed a criminal complaint with the gendarmerie to initiate a law enforcement investigation into the incident.
Operational impacts included degraded administrative functionality across the community’s services, though critical public-facing operations such as childcare facilities, youth recreational programs, and library services maintained their core activities without interruption. Leadership, including President Pascale Requenna and Director General Frédéric Lacave, prioritized two immediate objectives: restoring personalized support services for vulnerable residents and constructing a replacement IT infrastructure to replace the compromised systems. Requenna acknowledged the sustained efforts of staff working under crisis conditions and noted expressions of solidarity from Préfète Françoise Tahéri and Renaud Lagrave, director of the Landes regional IT agency. No evidence suggested data exfiltration or secondary disruptions beyond the initial server data destruction. Recovery efforts remained focused on infrastructure rebuilding and service continuity throughout the immediate post-incident period.