Orange users have lost Internet access since this afternoon.
A hacker has claimed responsibility for the attack, explaining that he has hijacked Orange’s RIPE NCC account
Restoring service would take hours
Something is going on with Orange, one of the big operators in Spain. Since the early afternoon of January 3, many of its users have reported problems with their connectivity on X, something that Down Detector corroborates: according to its notifications received for incidents with the telco, these began to manifest themselves shortly after three o’clock in the afternoon (Spanish peninsular time) and escalated shortly thereafter.
The reason, far from being a temporary drop in service, as happens from time to time with almost any operator, was more serious. The specialized website Banda Ancha pointed to an attack in which someone hijacked Orange’s RIPE NCC account, leaving its customers without Internet access. Later, the operator itself confirmed “improper access” to this type of account.
Restoring service would not be immediate
RIPE NCC (Réseau IP Européens Network Coordination Centre), is a key organization for IP address management and Internet infrastructure coordination in Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia. There are only five such organizations in the world, and they distribute users around the globe by geography.
The alleged attacker, identified as Ms_Snow_OwO on X, has claimed responsibility for hijacking the Orange account and posted screenshots as proof. He did so in the early hours of Tuesday to Wednesday, many hours before the connectivity issues began.
The attacker would have altered the information in Orange customer databases, thus causing the connection failures. Such an incident, if confirmed, not only interrupts connectivity, but also exposes the vulnerability of information systems and networks, as it not only leaves customers without service, but also jeopardizes the security of their data.
Orange, for its part, has not issued an official statement yet… but it has responded to the very angry complaint from a user by admitting an incident, without specifying which one, and explaining that it is “already working to solve it as soon as possible”. Other irate customers have been assured that they expect to achieve it “in the course of the next few hours”.
From Globe Live Media we have contacted Orange for their version and will update this article as soon as we get a response.
Update January 3 (19:05 h): Orange has just publicly communicated the incident, again without detailing what it is, assuring that it is resolved for some customers and that “they expect to recover the rest shortly”.
Update on January 3rd (7:47pm): the operator explains that “Orange’s account in the IP network coordination center (RIPE) has suffered an improper access that has affected the navigation of some of our customers”. It also states that “the service is practically restored”.