France confirms breach at government agency handling national ID data

The French government agency responsible for issuing and managing citizens’ identity documents, including national IDs, passports, and immigration records, confirmed on Wednesday that it has suffered a data breach.

In an official announcement, the Agence Nationale des Titres Sécurisés (ANTS) stated that the stolen data may include full names, dates and places of birth, postal and email addresses, and phone numbers of an undisclosed number of citizens. The agency added that an investigation is ongoing to determine how the breach occurred and assess its full impact, and that affected individuals are being notified.

ANTS, which said it detected the intrusion on April 15, did not disclose how many people were impacted by the incident. However, some reports suggest that millions of individuals may have had at least some personal data exposed.

According to Bleeping Computer, a hacker has advertised the stolen information on a cybercrime forum, claiming possession of a database containing 19 million records. The post reportedly referenced the same categories of personal data as in ANTS’ disclosure and was published before the agency’s public announcement of the breach on April 20.