Cyberattack at France Travail: a single hacked account was enough to expose 1.6 million files

The two institutions revealed that an act of computer malware led to the unauthorized consultation of information concerning approximately 1.6 million young people. The incident comes as the opening of the France Travail information system to its partners, provided for by law for full employment, multiplies the potential access points.

This intrusion precisely exploits a human vulnerability in this collaboration system, which is nevertheless designed to facilitate support towards employment.

A breach opened by an administrator account

The attack originated in the hacking of the account of an account management manager, a key function within Local Missions. These agents hold extensive prerogatives: they manage the authorizations of their colleagues for the shared information system, an infrastructure deployed within the framework of the law for full employment. The attacker created two additional accounts via ProConnect, granting himself access to individual files. The three accounts were deactivated as soon as the anomaly was detected.

The information potentially disclosed includes first and last names, dates of birth, social security numbers, identifiers, postal, electronic and telephone contact details. No password or banking details were extracted.

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