Auchan was also the victim of a hack, which resulted in the theft of the personal data of several hundred thousand of its customers. Loyalty cards are particularly at risk of being misused. Who will be next?

Auchan was also the victim of a hack, which resulted in the theft of the personal data of several hundred thousand of its customers. Loyalty cards are particularly at risk of being misused. Who will be next?

The wave of piracy continues to sweep over French companies, and brands are not spared! After Boulanger, Truffaut, Picard and Cultura, it’s Auchan’s turn to bear the brunt of a cyberattack! For several hours, the major distributor has been alerting its customers by email that it has been the victim of a cyberattack, which has resulted in “unauthorized access to some of the personal data associated with your loyalty account.” A few hundred thousand customers would be affected. Names, first names, email addresses, postal addresses, but also telephone numbers, loyalty card numbers, loyalty pot amounts and family compositions, if these were provided, were stolen. On the other hand, passwords, pin codes and banking information were spared. A report to the CNIL was made, as is customary.

Auchan hacking: phishing attempts and prize pools in danger

Also, expect phishing campaigns in the coming weeks. Indeed, when they get their hands on databases, scammers use personal information to adapt their traps and make their messages more credible. In particular, they can usurp the identity of Auchan in order to encourage victims to click on a fake site imitating that of the distributor. And that’s without counting loyalty card hacks, of which Auchan customers are regularly victims (see our article).

The company wants to be reassuring on this subject. “All necessary measures were taken immediately to stop this attack and strengthen the protection of our systems”she assures. She specifies in her email that she “strengthened controls in the event of withdrawal of your loyalty card.”

In any case, if you are a customer of the brand, be extra vigilant in the coming weeks and as always, do not hastily respond to emails, SMS, calls, and even registered letters whose sender you do not know. or which seem suspicious to you. The brand also reminds us that “Auchan never asks you (whether by e-mail, SMS or telephone) to ask you to communicate your personal codes or identifiers in any way”. Take the time to verify the identity of the person you are talking to before doing anything!

Auchan hacking: the continuation of a long dark series

This umpteenth hack is part of the wave of computer intrusions which have hit many French companies in recent months. Just at the beginning of the month, Free was the victim of a new intrusion, which resulted in the theft of the personal data of millions of subscribers, including IBANs… This new leak only adds to the already well-stocked databases on the Dark Web.

Cybersecurity researcher Benoit Grunemwald fears that this succession of personal data leaks will lead to a form of trivialization, which in turn would lead to Internet users becoming discouraged when it comes to cybersecurity. “Why invest time and energy in protecting your accounts if the companies themselves don’t seem to give enough importance to this data?”he asks himself. “This disengagement would have serious consequences both economically and socially. A reduction in user vigilance, which is already insufficient, would further facilitate data breaches and erode trust in all digital players.”

This is why it is more than necessary to continue to raise public awareness on this subject as much as possible, while supervising and supporting companies in their digital transformation. Most of them are perfectly aware of the issues, but the task is difficult in this perpetual game of cat and mouse.