Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Hackers attack French Euromillions lottery site calling it 'devil's work' and posting verse from the Koran

 

Kevin Rawlinson
Monday 29 October 2012 09:43 GMT
Comments
The euromillions.fr site was today in the process of being restored after the attack
The euromillions.fr site was today in the process of being restored after the attack

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Hackers have attacked the French site of the Euromillions lottery, attacking it as the ‘devil’s work’ and posting Koranic verse in place of its homepage.

The messages warned people to quit gambling and consuming alcohol, saying that they were used by the devil, both of which are forbidden in Islam, to “sow hatred between yourselves and turn you away from God and prayer”.

Posted in both French and Arabic, it read: “Oh you believers. Wine, games of chance, statues all augur impurity and are the work of the devil.” A hacking group calling itself “Morrocanghosts” claimed responsibility for the attack.

Euromillions lottery operator La Francaise des jeux (FDJ) said that none of its other games were affected after the attack, which French media reports said happened yesterday morning. The Euromillions homepage was unavailable last night and is currently redirecting visitors to the FDJ page.

A statement on that site said that all pages hit by the hackers were in “the process of being put back up”. The company added that no personal data was compromised during the attack.

The Twitter user MorrocanGhosts posted a message yesterday in Arabic which read: “After hours ... will penetrate the global gambling sites .. (O ye who believe alcohol and gambling ...”

France has a population of 65 million, including an estimated four million Muslims, the largest Islamic population in western Europe.

The EuroMillions lottery, launched in 2004, is now played by nine countries across western Europe: Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.

More than 100 million euros are up for grabs in a EuroMillions jackpot to be played on Tuesday.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in