Data Of 1.4 Million People Who Got Covid-19 Test In France Stolen By Hackers

PARIS: Hackers obtained the personal information of approximately 1.4 million patients who got Covid-19 tests in France in 2020, according to hospital officials.

Hospital officials stated on Wednesday that they filed a complaint with the Paris prosecutor’s office after confirming on September 12th that such a cyber attack occurred over the summer.

According to the complaint, the theft affects approximately 1.4 million persons who took tests in the greater Paris Île-de-France region in the middle of 2020, though no specific dates were provided.

The identities, social security numbers, and contact information of those tested, as well as the identities and contact information of health professionals who dealt with them, were stolen, according to the hospital organisation.

However, they claim that no additional health information was obtained.

According to the hospitals organisation, “the stolen files affect 1.4 million persons, virtually entirely for tests done in the middle of 2020′′ in the Paris region.

Those affected will be notified personally in the following days, according to the statement.

The circumstances of the case were also reported to France’s data watchdog, the CNIL, and the French National Agency for Information Security (ANSSI).

The hackers did not target national testing data, but rather a “secure service for sharing files” that was used in September 2020 to send information “valuable for contact tracking” to other health authorities.

According to the ministry of health, it has decided to register a complaint so that “all light is brought to bear on the leak, its repercussions, and all necessary actions are made to avoid such an event from occurring again.”