Agency for Secure IDs Hacked – Millions of French Affected
France's ID agency admits that data of 12 million French citizens is being offered on the black market. The perpetrator claims 19 million.
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Unknown attackers have hacked the database of the French agency for secure IDs (ANTS). The agency discovered this on April 15 and publicly announced it six days later. According to the agency, 11.7 million online accounts are affected. French media reports indicate that the stolen data set is already being offered on the black market, with promises of up to 19 million data records.
The reason for the significant difference is not confirmed. The seller might simply be exaggerating, or accounts from which ANTS issued multiple documents might be counted multiple times. According to the agency, the stolen data sets contain usernames, titles, first and last names, email addresses, dates of birth, account numbers, and for a portion of the accounts, also postal addresses, places of birth, and phone numbers. Applications for IDs and other documents generally require the submission of further documents, and very often biometric data sets are also provided. According to the current investigation, the perpetrator has not been able to obtain these, the agency states.
The ANTS (Agence nationale des titres sécurisés) is also known as France Titre. It is a department of the French Ministry of the Interior. It is responsible for issuing passports, identity cards, as well as driving licenses for road vehicles and motorboats, and for documents concerning vehicle registration, residence permits, visas, and a range of other IDs and documents for stays and border crossings. However, the documents are printed by the state printing office (Imprimerie nationale).
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ANTS does not disclose how the database breach was achieved. This is apparently still the subject of an ongoing investigation. Affected individuals have been informed by email. The French Ministry of the Interior recommends certain precautions to citizens, other than changing their ANTS password upon their next login.
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