French news agency AFP hit by cyberattack

French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has been hit by a cyberattack, the agency said in a statement on Saturday.

The attack on AFP's IT system, which partly affected transmission technology to customers, was discovered on Friday.

It is unclear who was behind the attack.

AFP's technical department, assisted by the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI), is handling the incident and the authorities have been notified, the company said.

Although the attack temporarily impaired transmission, AFP's worldwide reporting continued as usual, it said.

The attack on the news agency follows a major cyber incident in March which affected several French ministries and state institutions.

Pro-Russian hackers claimed responsibility for the attack, according to media reports, though the French authorities did not confirm this at the time.

France accuses Russia of increasing destabilization attempts since the beginning of the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The state-owned Polish news agency PAP was also hacked in May, and the government in Warsaw said it blames the incident on Russian intelligence services.