ANTS hacked - data leak

Read the following this morning, apparently France has one of the highest levels in the world of this sort of hacking.

https://www.ladepeche.fr/2026/04/24/decryptage-piratages-fuites-de-donnees-pourquoi-la-france-est-autant-ciblee-13340543.php?M_BT=575156546865#at_medium=Email%20marketing&at_campaign=Newsletter&at_email_send_date=2026-04-24

Not a silly question at all. I searched online for advice on reacting to this hack and the “consensus” seemed to be:-

  1. change your password for ANTS (or the affected account for other hacks)
  2. review your banks accounts daily for unexpected withdrawals, transfers
  3. Don’t respond to emails/click on links purporting to come from ANTS or similar
  4. Change your password if you’ve used it - or similar ones - on your other accounts
  5. No doubt others may have additional actions to consider
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Personally go back to how it used to be done, digital is not a panacea for problems, it’s the start of them. Then add up all the services required to maintain the digital environment and ongoing cyber security and does it save money? Cyber security half a step behind the hackers?

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ANTS is a classic example of France trying to run before it can walk.The old system worked fine for Driving Licences,car registrations etc,but they had to move it all online when they were nowhere near ready for it.With the result,it has been a shambles from the off and still is now,but you think they could at least get their security in order.Cracks me up,these places,they want to know absolutely everything,then they let hackers steal all your personal details.

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I’m not surprised. The transition to online services was made with the alluring promise of “choc de simplification”, which meant that little thought, and even less money, was put into securing the systems, because this would have made them more difficult to use and thereby reduce or slow down adoption by both Ministries and public alike.

From my own professional experience dealing on an almost daily basis with a particular government website, there is still no multifactorial authentication, which although not perfect, is a reasonable first barrier. The web portal in question still uses ID/password only identification, or alternatively, access via France Connect. Also unsurprisingly, both of these access routes have been breached on more than one occasion. It really is quite shameful.

Which for the hackers it has been so not all bad (sarcasm) :nerd_face:

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If they are as lax as has been shown, that’s just another piece of data the hackers have, genius

That, and, it seems, ridiculously out of control levels of unwanted démarchage téléphonique cslls - of course also based on leaked data

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Bit like EES really… you’re right

That has started with a vengeance again this past week, all the same first couple of digits and then different. It was quiet for ages and now again but at least by the time I get to the phone I know its “them” without looking at screen as it only rings a max of three times, genuine callers ring for ages as they know I don’t carry a phone around as though its an appendage.

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They’ve arrested a 15 year old (!) who is suspected of being involved in the recent hack on ANTS systems (including my personal data..sigh)…

Lecornu (PM) visited ANTS yesterday and pledged €200m to fight cyber crime..The government hasn’t set out what it will do with the money but it apparently thinks a new government agency, an autorité numérique de l’État might be the answer….

https://www.franceinfo.fr/internet/securite-sur-internet/cyberattaques/le-premier-ministre-sebastien-lecornu-annonce-des-tests-de-vulnerabilite-et-le-deblocage-de-200-millions-d-euros-contre-les-cyberattaques_7974860.html#xtor=CS2-765-

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I hope they hire the 15 year old

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I digress:

How does “soupçonner” become “I’ll have a little” in English? :thinking:

“un soupçon” = a hint of, a suspicion, just a dash… when talking about food/seasonings… and similarly in many other situations.

“soupçonner” is the verb " to suspect"

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They’ve now brought in the two factor authorisation. You log into ANTS if you use username and password and then ANTS send a code to your email address, the one you had to verify when you first got the change password notification. You then enter that code on ANTS to access your account. It’s as tedious as FranceConnect now.

This is from radio france and Mozilla Monitor works quite well.

Cyberattaque contre l’ANTS et données personnelles exposées : comment savoir si vous êtes concerné ? | franceinfo

I use a password app which encrypts my data and has a data breach scanner. I counted 107 passwords and I only got to F .. lol.

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I hope the link works…

Meet breach3D, the 15 year old who has been arrested in Bastia, Corsica for hacking 12m peoples data from ANTS. He apparently handed himself in, accompanied by his Mum.He has seemingly admitted his role, justifying it on the basis of alerting the public to the vulnerabilities in ANTS (quite plausible!) and also improving his street cred amongst fellow hackers..He was apparently also being sought for the small matter of stealing 15m peoples health data from a separate hack..