Attacker gets into France's database listing all bank accounts, makes off with 1.2 million records

An unknown attacker accessed the French government’s database listing every bank account in the country and made off with 1.2 million records. France’s Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty last week revealed the incident took place in January, after unknown attackers used stolen credentials to …

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Surely “suspicious attachments” is Tenga’s core business?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, Tenga got a few awards for its products, but its website (linked at 'company said' in TFA) uses polyfill.io, so please don't go there without protection (eg. some sort of NoScript) ... ;)

[An_Old_Dog]

Good Advice from Tenga

"...use more protection."

[Dr Who]

Fnarr fnarr ...

[Pen-y-gors]

Down with...

"France’s government has mobilized the agencies that fight this sort of incident,"

I can see Father Dougal now, standing outside the Elysée, with a sign saying "Down with this sort of incident"

[Ordinary Donkey]

Re: Down with...

"Attention, maintenant!"

[ThatOne]

Re: Down with...

> "France’s government has mobilized the agencies that fight this sort of incident"

A pity they didn't do it some months earlier... I'm sure those 1.2 million victims who now will face all kind of problems would had appreciated the effort...

[VicMortimer]

Surprise!

And does anybody wonder why governments should not be allowed to collect this sort of info yet?

[Brave Coward]

Is it just me...

... or all this Internet thing is happily heading towards an abject failure ?

[ecofeco]

Re: Is it just me...

It failed in 2001. But nobody seemed to notice.

[EnviableOne]

Re: Is it just me...

It failed in 1990 when they made it wibbley. Until then, most of its users were academics and techies, so they could be pretty much trusted.

[Sandtitz]

Re: Is it just me...

"1990 ... Until then, most of its users were academics and techies, so they could be pretty much trusted."

Ahem... one academic called Morris released a worm in 1988.

[TimMaher]

Re: Internet

Or maybe just the Wobbly Wobbly Web?

I’d hope so but I think you are probably right.

[that one in the corner]

Of course French govt need to collect details of every bank account

One database to rule them all

One Join to find them,

One Select to bring them all and exfiltrate to bind them

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Of course French govt need to collect details of every bank account

... and one highly visible whiteboard to group usernames and passwords for system access ... !

[Giles C]

Re: Of course French govt need to collect details of every bank account

Wouldn’t this come under the gdpr regulations?

If that is the case who is going to fine the French 10% of their turnover and where would the fine go to.

The question has to be asked if why they need this information in the first place, to reduce risk they could have just asked the banks to confirm who has an account with each of them (just an ID and code for each bank).

[Kurgan]

Re: Of course French govt need to collect details of every bank account

GDPR does not apply to governments. They are immune to their own laws of course.

[ITMA]

Re: Of course French govt need to collect details of every bank account

And they are French....

[ThatOne]

Re: Of course French govt need to collect details of every bank account

> why they need this information in the first place

Tax evasion, money laundering, there are lots of more or less valid excuses. There is none for losing that kind of sensitive information though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Of course French govt need to collect details of every bank account

The vast majority of French citizens have done nothing wrong.

...and if they've got nothing to hide, then they shouldn't mind investigators reading their email too, right?

[ThatOne]

Re: Of course French govt need to collect details of every bank account

Money laundering and tax evasion are a reality, not only rich people profit from it.

I'm not defending the fact, I just say keeping tabs on money movements might be more common than just France.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Of course French govt need to collect details of every bank account

"The vast majority of French citizens have done nothing wrong."

Except just being French...

[Anonymous Coward]

No worries, mates. Politicians have promised they can identify every Internet user and age gate the entire Internet without putting personally identifiable information at risk.

Move along, nothing to see here.

[Tron]

Go back to the future.

Your intranet, infrastructure, and as much of your computing as you can should never connect to the public internet. No SaaS, no cloud, no AI. Use separate systems for anything online.

Use simple, generic software packages to support your work, and use paper when it is safer, cheaper, or easier.

Data is a risk not an asset, so hold as little as you can, and keep it offline. Or switch to distributed systems, so you don't have a honeypot of data, attracting crims.

Or it will be a matter of time before you get turned over. Complex, large, bug-ridden and online systems cannot be secured.

[Anonymous Coward]

I’m safe

I rented a billboard at a major motorway intersection. It displays all of my PI.

So far, it’s been safer than your average online “security”.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I’m safe

> I rented a billboard at a major motorway intersection. It displays all of my PI.

Aha, so you've outed yourself Leigh Delamere - I've seen your motorway signs!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I’m safe

Leigh Delamere is a crook and a worthless imposter with links to Jeffrey Epstein.

Signed, Michael Wood.

[Pascal Monett]

"mobilized the agencies that fight this sort of incident"

Sorry, which "agencies" are we talking about ?

I'm asking because, in France, there is apparently only one agency : the moron who thinks he's a playboy.

This, from a government who wants to "protect" the children by requiring every adult to register in order to be able to continue to access Instagram.

Even teenagers can see through this bullshit.

[ThatOne]

Re: "mobilized the agencies that fight this sort of incident"

> the moron who thinks he's a playboy.

For those who aren't familiar with France's who-is-who, who's that?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Sex toy manufacturer Tenga said a "limited segment" of its US customer base who interacted with company support reps have had their details spilled."

I wonder if those cybercriminals are vibe-coders?

[TeeCee]

Let's parler Franglais!

Ne place pas tout votres oeufs dans une basket.

(Avec excuses au Kilometres Kington en retard)

[Blue Pumpkin]

Re: Let's parler Franglais!

"Kilomètres Kington" - MDR - prenez un vote up !

[heyrick]

And have they contacted each and every person whose information got swiped? And why the hell do they have a system perfectly willing to cough up that much info at once without flagging plenty of warnings?

Putain! C'est vraiment de l'incompétence spectaculaire. Un pays plein des fonctionnaires et paperasse sans fin...et quoi? Légumes!

[Anonymous Coward]

And have they contacted each and every person whose information got swiped?

No need, you can check online for yourself now.

[Anonymous Coward]

a question about the French leak.

Did the miscreants run a select to extract the highest value accounts with the most overseas activity? If so, they likely got what they wanted and good luck determining which transactions are the bad ones in 6 months' time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: a question about the French leak.

Are you taking the pissez ?

[ruuffio]

What is AI?

The subheading “AI helps cybercrims move faster, do more” and everything within it relies on the assumption of a common understanding of the meaning of “AI”. However, “AI” is one of the most overused, generic terms of the modern age. You need to be more specific if you want that section to be credible.

[A_O_Rourke]

Translation

"The attacker's access was restricted immediately upon discovery of the attack" = "The Stable Door was firmly bolted once the horse was spotted running over the hill in the distance!"

[Diogenes8080]

Does not compute

Population of France circa 67 million

Number of records stolen 1.2 million

All records exposed??? Do the rest of the population manage by bartering onions and packets of Gauloises?

I've read the preamble of the presse.economie.gouv.fr statement, and a better translation might be "the attacker copied 1.2 million records" from a database of all accounts in French banking institutions.