Cybernews discovered an exposed dataset containing tens of millions of French records, from population registry data to car insurance information. The data was exposed for an unknown period of time and was likely compiled by malicious actors.
The exposed dataset most likely contained data from at least five unrelated sources and included these data points:
- Voter or demographic registry data with full names, addresses, and birthdates;
- Healthcare professional records;
- Contact records from customer relationship management systems;
- Financial profiles, some containing IBANs and BICs tied to French banks;
- Additional datasets linking vehicle registrations and insurance information to named individuals.
โUnlike traditional leaks caused by corporate misconfigurations, this exposure appears to be the work of a data broker or criminal collector. Such actors often merge stolen datasets from multiple breaches into unified databases to increase resale value and enable identity cross-linking,โ the team explained.
By combining demographic, healthcare, and financial data, attackers can build detailed identity graphs, which enable attackers to perform targeted phishing and commit financial fraud. Threat actors can also utilize vast amounts of information to create synthetic identities, which can facilitate various online crimes involving impersonation and identity theft.
The information was stored on a cloud server based in France. After the Cybernews research team contacted the hosting company, the repositoryโs owner appears to have fixed the issue, taking the information offline.
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