French government database breach exposes 1.2 million bank account records

An unknown attacker has breached France's central database containing information on all bank accounts in the country, making off with 1.2 million records containing highly sensitive financial data.

According to France's Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, the incident occurred in January when attackers used stolen credentials to access the database. The ministry stated that access was immediately restricted upon discovery of the attack, but not before the attacker obtained personal information about 1.2 million accounts.

The compromised data includes account numbers, account holders' addresses, and tax identification numbers. This represents a significant breach of financial privacy for French citizens, as the database serves as a central repository for banking information across the country.

France's government has mobilized specialized agencies to investigate the breach and is warning account holders to be vigilant for suspicious messages or potential phishing attempts that could follow from the data exposure. The ministry has not disclosed how the credentials were initially stolen or whether the attack involved any additional vulnerabilities in the database system.

This breach highlights the critical importance of securing centralized government databases that contain sensitive personal and financial information. The fact that stolen credentials were sufficient to access such a comprehensive database raises questions about authentication mechanisms and access controls in place.

While the ministry acted quickly to restrict access once the breach was discovered, the exposure of 1.2 million records demonstrates how quickly significant damage can occur once attackers gain initial entry. The combination of account numbers, addresses, and tax IDs creates a particularly valuable dataset for potential financial fraud or identity theft.

French authorities have not yet identified the attackers or their motives, though the scale and nature of the breach suggests it may have been carried out by a sophisticated threat actor seeking to monetize the stolen financial data. The incident serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing challenges in protecting sensitive government-held data from increasingly capable cyber adversaries.