The First Cyberattack: French Hacking by Candlelight (9 photos)

Many believe the first cyberattack occurred in 1988, when Cornell University graduate student Robert Morris accidentally released a worm that disabled a significant portion of the internet.





However, the history of digital intrusions is much older. It dates back to an era when not only the internet but also wireless telegraphs didn't even exist. Even then, a vast data transmission network based on optical telegraph—semaphore—was already in operation.



Robert Morris

The semaphore system consisted of a chain of towers, each of which housed a movable wooden arrow. Different configurations of these arrows corresponded to letters, numbers, and symbols. Operators at each tower, observing the neighboring station through a telescope, would reproduce its signals on their own. Thus, messages could travel along the chain at incredible speeds for the time.





Optical Telegraph

The network was exclusively government-owned, but in 1834, two brothers, François and Joseph Blanc, figured out how to hack it for personal gain. The brothers traded government bonds on the Bordeaux exchange, which was based on the Paris exchange. Since it took several days for the mail coach to deliver news from the capital, provincial traders were always late. Those who received information faster could beat the market and make a killing. Attempts to use pigeons and messengers proved unreliable, so the brothers found another way.



They bribed a telegraph operator in Tours, to whom an accomplice in Paris delivered stock market reports. Sending private messages through a government channel was impossible—it would have been immediately noticed. So the brothers devised a cunning plan. They instructed the operator to insert a specific set of codes into routine government dispatches. These signals appeared to be random errors, but in fact carried encrypted market information.



François Blanc

Standard procedure was to correct errors with a special signal in the next transmission. Both the error and the correction were duplicated by all stations along the route. The brothers stationed another accomplice with a telescope near the end of the line to Bordeaux. He read the "errors," deciphered them, and relayed the news to the brothers.



Joseph Blanc

This scam remained undiscovered for two years. It all came to light when a bribed telegraph operator from Tours fell ill and decided to let his friend in on the scheme, hoping he would take over. However, the friend proved more conscientious and reported it to his superiors. The Blanc brothers were brought to trial, but since there was no law against misuse of the telegraph system, they were ultimately released.



A retrospective look at this story reveals the hopeless vulnerability of the French semaphore system. If it weren't for the Blanc brothers, someone else would have inevitably exploited its flaws. Any loophole will be found and exploited—that's the nature of things. And, as in any security system, the weakest link remains the human element. The most complex password is useless if written down on a piece of paper. The most advanced fraud protection technology won't protect someone who voluntarily gives out card details to a stranger over the phone. In the case of the Blanc brothers, that weak link was a bribed employee.



This story reminds us that with any new invention, people will always find a way to turn it into evil.