PARIS
\nFrance is probing possible foreign interference after a Latvian national was arrested and charged over the discovery on a passenger ferry of malware capable of allowing the vessel\u2019s operating systems to be be controlled remotely, the interior minister said Wednesday.
\nThe malware was found on the passenger ferry the Fantastic with a capacity of over 2,000 passengers, belonging to Italian shipping company GNV while it was docked in France\u2019s Mediterranean port of Sete, Paris prosecutors said.
\nItalian authorities had warned France that the operating system of the vessel could have been infected by a malware known as a Remote access Trojan (RAT) which allows a hacker to gain remote control of a system.
\nTwo crew members, a Latvian and a Bulgarian, whose identities had been signalled to France by the Italian authorities, were detained last week. The Bulgarian was freed but the Latvian charged and placed under arrest in the investigation.
\nThe office of the Paris prosecutor said late Tuesday it had opened an investigation into a suspected bid \u201cby an organized group to attack an automated data-processing system, with the aim of serving the interests of a foreign power.\u201d
\n– Security warnings about Russia –
\nFrance and other European governments have warned that Russia is stepping up a campaign of interference more than three and a half years into its war against Ukraine.
\n\u201cThis is a very serious matter… individuals tried to hack into a ship\u2019s data-processing system,\u201d Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told France Info radio early Wednesday.
\n\u201cInvestigators are obviously looking into interference. Yes, foreign interference,\u201d he said.
\nNunez refused to be drawn over whether the attack was aimed at diverting the ship from its route and did not name Russia.
\nBut he said: \u201cThese days one country is very often behind foreign interference.\u201d
\nIn a sign of the gravity of the case, the investigation is being led by France\u2019s domestic intelligence service, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI).
\nAfter being cordoned off in port, the Fantastic was subjected to an emergency inspection by the DGSI, which led to the seizure of several items.
\nThe vessel was subsequently cleared to sail again after receiving approval from maritime authorities, after technical checks were completed and any danger to those on board ruled out.
\nEmergency searches were also conducted in Latvia with the support of Eurojust, the European Union\u2019s judicial cooperation arm, and the Latvian authorities.
\nThe Latvian national\u2019s lawyer Thibault Bailly said he believed the \u201ctheory of Russian interference evoked in the press seems superfluous.\u201d
\n\u201cThe investigation will shed light on several aspects of this case that are still unclear. In particular, it will demonstrate that this case is not as worrying as it may have initially seemed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS France is probing possible foreign interference after a Latvian national was arrested and charged over the discovery on a passenger ferry of malware capable of allowing the vessel\u2019s operating systems to be be controlled remotely, the interior minister said Wednesday. The malware was found on the passenger ferry the Fantastic with a capacity of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-520619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n