The French government agency responsible for managing identity documents, such as national IDs, passports, and immigration papers, reported a data breach on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Agence Nationale des Titres SĂ©curisĂ©s (ANTS) revealed that the stolen data might include full names, birth dates and locations, mailing and email addresses, and phone numbers of an unspecified number of citizens. ANTS mentioned that the investigation into the breach’s cause and its repercussions is ongoing, and notifications are being sent to those whose data was compromised.
ANTS, which identified the attack on April 15, has not disclosed the number of people affected. However, reports indicate that millions could have had their personal information stolen.
As reported by Bleeping Computer, a hacker has posted the stolen data for sale on a hacking forum, claiming possession of a database containing 19 million records. The hacker’s post mentioned the same type of information as noted in ANTS’ statement and appeared before ANTS publicly acknowledged the breach on April 20.
