French fiber optic cables hit by ‘major sabotage’ in second Olympics attack

PARIS — A second attack on key French infrastructure within days is putting increased focus on security around the Olympics as France hosts athletes and visitors from around the world.
Long-distance fiber optic cables were hit by a “major sabotage” operation early Monday, according to Netalis, an internet provider for corporate customers. It will take “a few hours” for the problems to be resolved after the attack, which occurred at around 2:15 a.m. and affected several operators, Netalis said in a post on X.
Free Pro, the corporate branch of one of the main French service providers, confirmed the attack and warned customers of a “significant slowdown” on its network.
A spokesperson for Iliad, Free’s parent company, indicated that six of the 101 French districts were affected by the slowdown. Paris, where most of the Olympic events are taking place, has not been affected.
Police confirmed to news agency AFP that the regions concerned are Bouches-du-Rhône, Aude, Oise, Hérault, Meuse, and Drôme.
“Last night, our telecommunications operators were affected by damage in several départements,” outgoing Junior Minister for Digital Affairs Marina Ferrari said. “I condemn these cowardly and irresponsible acts.”
Online monitoring service DownDetector showed an uptick in issues and outages affecting the main French service providers.
On Friday, large segments of the French rail network were affected by a coordinated arson attack. Outgoing Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced Monday that authorities had identified the “profiles” of individuals who may have been behind the rail attack, adding that the sabotage “resembled the ultra-left’s operating procedure,” but that “the question is if these people were manipulated by others or acted on their own behalf.”