Last week, 1.4 million French people had the misfortune of learning by an email from the Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), that some of their personal data had been stolen.
"
We recommend the utmost vigilance, especially with regard to fraud or phishing attempts that could occur in the coming weeks,
" explains the message of the organization, preceded by an apology.
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At the end of August, the organization saw its database infiltrated by cybercriminals. They attacked a "
secure file sharing service
" and stole information from 1.4 million people who were tested for Covid-19 a few months ago. Email, phone number, social security number, test result ... A lot of sensitive data has been collected. The AP-HP has, as the law requires, reported the incident to the National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms (Cnil) and filed a complaint. A preliminary investigation has since been carried out by the Paris prosecutor's office.
But individual victims can also file a complaint.
The government has just made an electronic complaint form available.
"
The people concerned who would be victims of a malicious approach, by email, SMS phone call [...] are invited to file a complaint using the complaint form without having to go to a police station or a gendarmerie
", explains the cell in charge of cyber-surveillance.
Simply download and complete the document, attach proof of data usage, and send it to a specified email address.
What are the risks ?
Data stolen by cybercriminals can be used for a variety of purposes.
The first risk is that of phishing, an SMS or email that looks like an authentic message from a trusted actor, such as a bank or a telephone operator, in order to obtain even more information, if possible of payment.
The CNIL recommends in case of doubt not to "
consult the attachments
", not to reply to the message and to delete it "
immediately
".
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The second risk is identity theft.
With information as sensitive as the Social Security number, it is possible that someone is trying to impersonate the victim of the leak.
The digital policeman then recommends “filing a complaint as soon as possible”.
In the event that the data is republished on social networks, the government advises to report "
directly the pages, accounts, messages containing your personal data to the platforms [...] in order to have them deleted
".
The key word is therefore vigilance.
