France Travail was the victim of a cyberattack. 43 million people could “potentially” be affected by this data theft.
Major cyberattack could have “potentially” targeted 43 million people, reveals BFMTV. France Travail, formerly Pole emploi, announced the worrying news on its website this Wednesday. “Following a cyberattack of which we were victims with Cap emploi, personal information concerning you may be disclosed.” The attack allegedly took place between “March 5 and 6” but was only spotted this week.
An investigation was then opened by the Paris public prosecutor’s office and then entrusted to the brigade fighting against cybercrime of the Paris judicial police department. France Travail immediately clarified that banking information and passwords are not affected by the hack, before apologizing for this incident. The disclosure concerns more personal data such as surnames, first names, dates of birth, addresses and telephone numbers but also France Travail identifiers and social security numbers. This stolen information could be “unlawfully disclosed and exploited.”
Who was affected? Potentially all “people previously registered over the last 20 years as well as people not registered on the list of job seekers, but having a candidate space on francetravail.fr”. France Travail is obliged to individually notify all people affected by this data theft. The CNIL was also notified.
If you learn that you are one of the victims, be vigilant regarding the messages, emails or SMS that you may receive. Do not click on any links or attachments that seem suspicious. This cyberattack is reminiscent of last year when the personal data of 10 million job seekers was put up for sale on the dark web.