Hackers Exploit IT Monitoring Tool Centreon to Target Several French Entities. Russia-linked state-sponsored hackers Sandworm targeted IT monitoring software company Centreon in a three-year-long stealthy operation. Russia-linked state-sponsored threat actor known as Sandworm has been linked to a three-year-long stealthy operation to hack targets by exploiting an IT monitoring tool called Centreon. The intrusion campaign — which breached “several French entities” — is said to have started in late 2017 and lasted until 2020, with the attacks particularly impacting web-hosting providers, said the French information security agency ANSSI in an advisory. Third-party company: Centreon.