Passwords haven't been obtained by the cybercriminals

Feb 3, 2014 10:53 GMT  ·  By

On January 16, cybercriminals hacked into the systems of telecoms giant Orange. The attackers targeted the My Account section of the orange.fr website.

According to PC INpact, the hackers have gained access to names, mailing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and other information. Orange representatives say that less than 3% of their customer base is impacted by the attack, more precisely around 800,000 individuals.

Shortly after detecting the attack, Orange shut down the My Accounts page. Impacted individuals are being notified via email.

Orange Technical Director Laurent Benatar has clarified that passwords have not been compromised, not even encrypted ones. The cybercriminals might have gained access to some partial financial information.

Benatar explains that sensitive data such as bank account numbers are redacted, the full versions being stored on separate servers that haven’t been impacted by this breach.

The announcement comes after Orange warned customers of phishing emails on January 23, 24. At the time, the telecoms company didn’t mention anything about a cyberattack. The phishing warnings should be taken seriously since the cybercriminals can leverage the stolen information for targeted attacks.