French authorities detain 15-year-old in France Titres (ANTS) data-breach probe
A 15-year-old has been detained in France following a data breach at a government agency, involving the sale of up to 18 million personal records.
Jason Kwon ·
French authorities have detained a 15-year-old in connection with an investigation into a cyberattack on France Titres (ANTS), the government agency that issues and manages administrative documents, according to the Paris Prosecutor’s Office.
Prosecutors said ANTS detected suspicious activity on its network on April 13 and notified authorities on April 16. ANTS later confirmed a breach and said the data advertised for sale was authentic.
Scale of the breach Investigators believe the suspect offered for sale between 12 million and 18 million records linked to the incident. In a subsequent update, ANTS said 11.7 million accounts were affected.
ANTS said the exposed information included full names, email addresses, dates of birth, postal addresses, and phone numbers. The agency added that the stolen data, on its own, was not sufficient to enable unauthorized access to user accounts on its portal.
Potential charges and next steps Prosecutors said the minor could face charges related to unauthorized access, persistence, and data exfiltration from a state-run automated personal data processing system, as well as possession of software used to enable such offenses.
Prosecutors are seeking formal charges and have requested that the minor be placed under judicial supervision. An investigating judge is overseeing the case.
The alleged offenses carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a fine of EUR 300,000.