Nearly two centuries ago, France was first hit by a data network attack (2017)
Previously on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15410531
It was not “an attack on the network” as such (the goal was never to disrupt the network's primary functions, so "the France" was really never "hit") but it was actually a “side-channel exploit” (and effectively a kind of "phreaking" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phreaking ). And it was really brilliant!
Interesting story, though I'd argue this wasn't a network attack, rather an attempt to lower latency.
For those interested, there is a good wikipedia page covering the concept of mechanical hilltop line of sight telegraphs:
thanks