The Department of Ardèche hacked and the data of the inhabitants put up for sale


An archive of 40,000 files containing some personal data of citizens has been released by a group of cybercriminals. These data relate to inhabitants of the Ardèche.

Difficult to imagine a bad cyber scenario when you live in a white zone? And yet, on April 6, 2022, the computer system of the Department of Ardèche was seriously disrupted by a cyberattack. This offensive by ransomware, that is to say by malicious software paralyzing the system while waiting for the payment of a ransom, was claimed by the Lockbit group, a specialist in ransoming businesses across Europe. The group has more than 750 victims to its credit, such as the City of Saint-Cloud.

The publication of the data, on Wednesday April 13, is only the execution of a threat made just after the attack. The hackers issued an ultimatum to the Department, giving authorities seven days to pay the ransom, the amount of which remains unknown. From now on, 40,000 files containing the personal data of inhabitants of the department are on sale on the dark web.

In total, the published archive weighs around 20 TB. It contains information such as Social Security and telephone numbers, pay slips, or the identity of people receiving social assistance, according to a cybersecurity expert quoted by Le Figaro. The newspaper also specifies that the analysis of the files is still in progress and that the victims have therefore not yet been alerted.

Local authorities appear to have taken the attack lightly, initially explaining that the stolen data did not contain any sensitive information. They also seem to have believed in a new bluff from the cybercriminal group, which had made believe in a hacking of the Ministry of Justice last February when the data belonged to a law firm.



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