DDoS incident disrupts France’s postal and banking services ahead of Christmas

France’s national postal service, La Poste, confirmed that a suspected cyberattack disrupted its websites and mobile applications days before Christmas, slowing deliveries and knocking some online services offline.

In a statement on Monday, La Poste said that a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) incident knocked key digital systems offline. The company said there was no evidence that customer data had been compromised, but acknowledged that postal operations, including parcel distribution, had been affected.

The disruption extended to La Banque Postale, the banking service, which warned customers that access to online banking and its mobile app was affected. Card payments at in-store terminals and cash withdrawals from ATMs continued to function, and online payments remained possible if authenticated by text message, the bank said.

La Poste said some post offices were operating at reduced capacity, though customers were still able to carry out banking and postal transactions at counters. “Our teams are fully mobilised to restore services as quickly as possible,” the company said in a statement.

The disruption came at a busy time for the postal service. Customers complained on social media that delays could prevent them from receiving packages in time for Christmas, while French media reported that some people attempting to send or collect parcels were turned away from post offices.

The incident follows a separate data breach disclosed last week at France’s Interior Ministry, where attackers gained unauthorized access to email accounts and confidential documents. French authorities later arrested a 22-year-old suspect in connection with that incident.

It is not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack on La Poste, and the company did not attribute it to any specific group.