If you call up France’s international TV network, TV5 Monde, this morning, you will find a blank screen with a terse message: “Nous sommes actuellement en maintenance. Merci pour votre patience.” Which translates as: “Maintenance in progress. Thank you for your patience.” The reason for the interruption of services is not given, but the channel, and its associated social media, appeared to have been taken over for a while by hackers operating on behalf of the self-styled Islamic State (Isis).

Now I happen to be a fan of French international broadcasting. TV5 Monde, along with France 24, and the radio station France Inter, are to my mind among the most informative, balanced and professionally presented services in the world. They are the stations I turn to first when travelling abroad – for their global perspective, and, yes, their style. Sorry, BBC.

As the US military pointed out, accessing Centcom’s Twitter account is a long way from penetrating the actual command

So it would have been pretty shocking to have switched on TV5 Monde or tried to access its social media sites and found the sort of crude propaganda that was being aired. A message stated that “The CyberCaliphate continues its cyberjihad against the enemies of Islamic State.” Social media profile pictures were replaced by pictures of a masked Islamist fighter. There was also an intimidatory aspect. Posts included documents said to be identity cards belonging to relatives of French soldiers taking part in anti-Isis operations.

The first reactions to the reported hacking, and still more to the repellent content, reflected the horror that Isis had managed to take over someone else’s airwaves and bandwidth in pursuit of its “civilisational” war. The attack has also served to reinforce the argument that cyberwarfare is the way of the future; that Isis is ahead of the technology curve, and that the western world had better beef up its conventional defence and cyber budgets without delay.

But how far is such alarm really justified? TV5 Monde described the attack as “unprecedented” – which it is, in relation to a mainstream TV station. Isis or its operatives have form in this area, however. There have been several instances of new media hackings attributed to Isis, including a clutch after the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris in January. Targets included social media services in France and Belgium and @Centcom, the Twitter account the US central military command .

Such attacks were irritating, but they were small-scale and relatively easily dispatched. As the US military pointed out, being able to access Centcom’s Twitter account is far from the same as penetrating the actual command.

To be sure, TV5 Monde, and the other social media services that Isis has hacked need to strengthen their cyber defences. In a way, the attacks have done them a service by highlighting their vulnerability in this area. But what has Isis actually achieved beyond this?

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As it has swept across northern Iraq and Syria, Isis has revealed an ability to combine a medieval, even pre-medieval, mindset with 21st century technology. It has also shown itself cannily able to manipulate and exploit western media thinking. Its release of beheading videos present open societies with a dilemma. If you do not report the killings, you are imposing censorship and covering up crimes; if you do report them, and post the videos or even a single picture, you are doing the group’s propaganda bidding.

There comes a time, though, when the shock effect of even this footage wears off. Isis has recently appeared to be looking for new propaganda weapons. And while success in commandeering a French media outlet for a few hours might boost morale in some Isis quarters, it could well prove counterproductive in the wider world. The fact of the hacking, plus the crudeness of the messages, is unlikely to enhance Isis’s appeal beyond those already converted.

So long as we recognise propaganda as such – as with Russia’s efforts to impose its views about Ukraine, so with Isis – those trying to influence western opinion have failed.