France faces wave of cyberattacks targeting Civil Protection and banking clients

France is facing a surge in cyberattacks targeting both public institutions and private organizations. The French Civil Protection (Protection Civile) confirmed it was the victim of a data breach in March affecting its eProtec platform. The breach involved the personal information of volunteers, including names, dates of birth, phone numbers, and data concerning minors. While some reports suggest over 525,000 profiles were exfiltrated, the association is still investigating the exact scale and noted that the file contained many duplicates.

In a separate incident, a cyberattack targeting the concierge service John Paul, associated with high-end Visa cards, has impacted several banking clients. The Groupe Banque Populaire Caisse d'Epargne (BPCE) reported that 4,179 of its customers were affected, though the total number of victims across other banks like Société Générale and La Banque Postale may be higher. The breach, reportedly caused by a phishing attack on a professional email account, exposed names, contact details, and partial card data, though sensitive full banking information appears to remain secure.