Pro-ISIS Hacktivists Take Over French-language TV

Global television network TV5Monde was virtually disabled for hours after Islamic State sympathizers hijacked and defaced the company's 11 channels, websites and social media accounts.

The attack by a group calling itself Cyber Caliphate caused screens that would normally show programming to go blank. Normal content was replaced by the message: "Je suIS IS,” NPR reports.

The hackers also displayed purported ID cards of relatives of French soldiers who are involved in military actions against ISIS.

The network said that, on one of its social media accounts, a message written in three languages -- French, Arabic and English -- included threats to the company and "a glorification of Sharia."

"It's been a very powerful attack, because we have very strong firewalls which had been checked -- and that had been checked very recently -- and were said to be very safe," said Yves Bigot, TV5Monde's director. "So obviously it's a very knowledgeable and powerful cyberattack."