According to a study, France is one of the countries most affected by personal information leaks in the world. The number of online passwords calls for vigilance.
The first months of 2024 saw an impressive wave of data leaks: France Travail (former Pôle Emploi), the FFF, two Third Party Paying operators (Viamedias / Almerys), the brand “Le slip français”, the Speedy car repair company… Almost the entire population is affected by these cyberattacks.
According to the VPN company Surfshark, France is regularly in the top 5 countries most affected by leaks of personal information. Over 20 years, it would even be ranked 4th in the world in terms of data breaches with 1.4 billion personal records exposed since 2004. Worse, “ 450.7 million passwords were leaked with French accounts, putting 86.4% of compromised users at risk of account takeover, potentially leading to identity theft, blackmail or other cybercrimes » notes a Surfshark study.
The United States, Russia and China form the podium of countries most affected by hackers.
What to do if your password has been leaked
Not all data leaks involve passwords. In the majority of cases, this primarily involves email addresses as well as user information. In accordance with CNIL rules, the affected company must inform you that your personal information has been stolen. The type of data must also be communicated to you. If the password is affected, it will need to be changed as soon as possible. In principle, choose a new, more complex combination such as a sentence.
Some companies, particularly foreign ones, will not communicate about the cyberattack. You can check if your data has not been leaked from these sites.
Finally, it is always possible to file a complaint. For each massive data leak in France, Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, the government support platform for hacking victims, posts a short summary online on the impact of this cyberattack, with a letter form at the end. online complaint. If an investigation is opened, it will make it possible to gather information and perhaps trace the path back to the hackers.
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