Viamedis and Almerys, two third-party payment specialists, were victims of successive cyberattacks at the end of January. The CNIL revealed on Wednesday that this had led to the distribution of the Social Security number of almost half of French people.
Vigilance alert! This Wednesday, February 7, 2024, the National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties (Cnil) officially announced that no less than 33 million people are affected by the massive hacking of which Viamedis and Viamedis were victims, in quick succession, at the end of January. Almerys. These two operators are responsible for managing third-party payments for a number of complementary health insurance and mutual insurance companies.
The CNIL ensures that it is carrying out investigations into the data breach which affected the two operators. Concretely, the following could have been stolen, according to the CNIL: “the civil status, the date of birth and the social security number, the name of the health insurer as well as the guarantees of the contract taken out”. However, this is not the case for any medical data or banking information.
How do you know if your Social Security number has been hacked?
The National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties recalls in its communicated that the supplementaries who go through the two hacked operators have the duty to inform “individually and directly” the policyholders concerned. Everyone is therefore invited to regularly check their mailbox, including spam, in the coming days. Warnings can also be sent directly via the complementary health insurance website, to the personal space of policyholders. For those who are too worried, a quick call to their health insurance to ask the question directly can also be considered.
As for the risks faced by the victims of this massive hack, it is above all a risk of phishing. Beware of scam emails which could redirect victims to fake sites, where they could then be asked for banking information in order to extract money from them. The CNIL therefore urges caution regarding possible requests that you may receive, and more particularly “if they concern reimbursements of health costs”. It is also recommended to “periodically check the activities and movements on your various accounts”.