33M French Citizens Impacted in Country's Largest-Ever Breach

The CNIL is investigating two consecutive data breaches at French payment processors Viamedis and Almerys that together exposed personally identifiable information for about 33 million citizens. Initial access reportedly came via an employee phishing compromise at Viamedis and unauthorized access to a health-professional portal at Almerys; while contact and financial details were not stolen, national IDs, dates of birth, marital status, and insurer names were exfiltrated, raising significant risks of social-engineering and identity abuse.