France

Historical telecommunications security milestones, vulnerabilities, wiretapping incidents, and signaling exploits recorded in France.

RECORDS INDEXED2

SPAN1837–1865

AVG SEVERITY6.3 / 10

Intercept Log — France

002 RECORDS

1837

Signaling

7.5

The Optical Telegraph Hack (Chappe Semaphore)

Francois and Joseph Blanc hijacked the French optical telegraph network by bribing operators to insert deliberate backspace/error codes into stock market transmissions. The scheme ran for roughly two years before being exposed in 1836, making it the first documented attack combining an insider, a covert channel, and a financial network.

1865

Signaling

5.0

International Telegraph Union Founded in Paris

On 17 May 1865, after a conference running from 1 March, twenty European states signed the first International Telegraph Convention in Paris and created the International Telegraph Union — the body that became today's ITU.