French government data breach exposes personal records of citizens

The French government agency responsible for issuing and managing citizens’ identity documents, including national IDs, passports, and immigration papers, officially confirmed on Wednesday that it suffered a major data breach.

The Agence Nationale des Titres Sécurisés (ANTS)  of the French government revealed in an announcement that the stolen information may include the full names, dates and places of birth, mailing and email addresses, and phone numbers of an undisclosed number of French citizens.

Authorities are currently investigating how the severe cyberattack occurred and its potential national impact, while actively notifying individuals whose personal data was directly compromised.

Cybersecurity officials at ANTS initially detected the malicious attack on April 15 but did not immediately disclose exactly how many people were affected by the breach.

However, recent industry reports suggest that millions of citizens may have had some of their sensitive personal information dangerously compromised.

According to Bleeping Computer, a hacker has already posted the stolen data on a notorious hacking forum, claiming to possess a massive database containing over 19 million individual records.

The hacker’s forum post directly referenced the exact same kind of stolen information mentioned in the official ANTS announcement and was notably published before the government agency publicly disclosed the cyberattack on April 20.