France’s national postal operator, La Poste, and its banking division, La Banque Postale, experienced a suspected cyberattack on Monday, disrupting package deliveries and online banking services amid the busy Christmas period.

La Poste said the incident involved a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that made its online services unavailable. Customer data remained secure, the company said, but operations such as parcel deliveries and mail services were affected. At a Paris post office decorated with Christmas garlands, staff turned away customers attempting to send or collect parcels, including holiday gifts.

Users of La Banque Postale faced difficulties accessing the mobile application to authorise payments or perform other banking transactions. As a temporary measure, the bank redirected payment approvals via text messages. “Our teams are mobilised to resolve the situation quickly,” the bank said on social media. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The same services affected on Monday — Colissimo parcel tracking and the Digiposte digital vault — were already disrupted on Saturday, though La Poste did not immediately confirm whether that incident was also an attack. La Poste has faced cyberattacks before, including a February 2024 DDoS incident claimed by the Turkish hacking group Turk Hack Team that temporarily knocked its website offline.

The recent disruptions come shortly after a cyberattack on France’s Interior Ministry, which oversees national security. In that incident, a suspected hacker gained access to police records and other sensitive documents. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez attributed the breach to “imprudence” and poor “digital hygiene,” including passwords shared in plain text via email. A hacker claiming responsibility posted online that data on 16.4 million citizens had been accessed, though authorities confirmed only dozens of files were compromised. A 22-year-old suspect was detained in connection with the attack.

Concerns over cybersecurity in France have intensified following a separate investigation into a suspected cyberattack conspiracy involving a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) on the GNV Fantastic, an international passenger ferry operating between France, Italy, and North Africa. A Latvian crew member is being held on charges of acting for an unidentified foreign power. The malware discovered aboard the ferry could remotely control the vessel’s operating systems, prompting temporary security checks before operations resumed. Nunez hinted at possible Russian involvement, stating, “foreign interference very often comes from same country,” though no official attribution has been made.

France and other European countries supporting Ukraine have accused Russia of conducting “hybrid warfare,” including sabotage, assassinations, cyberattacks, disinformation, and other hostile actions. Analysts say recent attacks on critical infrastructure such as La Poste and national institutions highlight the ongoing cyber risks facing public and private sectors, particularly during high-traffic periods like the holidays.