The Target: CAF, the French Social Security agency
The Take: 10,000 records of Personally Identifiable Information exposed including: physical address, date of birth, household composition and income, amounts and benefits received.
The Vector: An unencrypted and unprotected file containing the above information was sent to a third-party service provider, who then posted the file to their website which was publicly accessible to anyone.
This breach is a reminder of how critical authentication controls are on sensitive data to maintain an overall robust cybersecurity posture, and more critically, ensuring these controls are in place when communicating and sending data to third-party vendors. The information stolen in this attack could lead to highly targeted phishing campaigns against the victims. Regular vendor assessments are also a key component in cybersecurity.