Nearly half the citizens of France have had their data exposed in a massive security breach at two third-party healthcare payment servicers, the French data privacy watchdog disclosed last week.

Payments outfits Viamedis and Almerys both experienced breaches of their systems in late January, the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) revealed, leading to the theft of data belonging to more than 33 million customers. Affected data on customers and their families includes dates of birth, marital status, social security numbers and insurance information. No banking info, medical data or contact information was compromised, the CNIL added.

“This is the first time that there has been a violation of this magnitude [in France],” Yann Padova, digital data protection lawyer and former secretary general of the CNIL told French radio network Franceinfo. Padova believes the breach is the largest in France’s history.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    5 months ago

    If you think your PII hasn’t been breached yet, you’re living in a fantasy.

    ETA: which is not to suggest disinterest or that regulation isn’t needed. Just that this is no longer news.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    5 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Payments outfits Viamedis and Almerys both experienced breaches of their systems in late January, the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) revealed, leading to the theft of data belonging to more than 33 million customers.

    “This is the first time that there has been a violation of this magnitude [in France],” Yann Padova, digital data protection lawyer and former secretary general of the CNIL told French radio network Franceinfo.

    The CNIL said that it’s working with Viamedis and Almerys to ensure those affected are informed – as is required under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation – but it’ll likely take some time to get the word out to nearly half the country.

    The government plans to pursue “all avenues to ban devices used to steal vehicles by copying the wireless signals for remote keyless entry, such as the Flipper Zero,” Canadian public safety officials declared after a summit this week on combating auto theft.

    Dennis was sentenced in Florida in 2022 for using fake IDs populated with real information to open bank accounts and take out fraudulent loans, in one case making off with $20k in cash using another person’s identity.

    Dennis didn’t just buy and use stolen PII, though – he also crafted it into profiles to sell to other criminals, and offered guidance on how to use the dodgy dossiers to commit bank fraud.


    The original article contains 720 words, the summary contains 228 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!