Data of half the population of France stolen in its largest ever cyberattack. This is what we know
One in two French people’s data was stolen in a major cybersecurity breach - the largest ever in France - leaving 33 million at risk.
Over 33 million people in France - nearly half of its population - have been impacted by the country’s biggest-ever cyberattack.
Two French service providers for medical insurance companies were targeted, with the companies admitting that millions of people’s data were potentially exposed to the hackers.
"This is the first time there has been a breach on such a scale," Yann Padova, a lawyer specialising in digital data protection and former Secretary General of the French data protection authority (CNIL) told French broadcaster Franceinfo on Thursday.
Two companies - Viamedis and Almerys - are service providers for medical insurance companies. They were victims of a cyberattack that occurred five days apart at the beginning of February.
Over 33 million people - just under half of the French population - were affected by the data leak, which included details like "the marital status, date of birth and social security number, the name of the health insurer and the cover provided by the policy" of the individuals impacted, according to the French data protection authority (CNIL).
