Data breach at French telecom giant Bouygues affects millions of customers

Bouygues Telecom, the third-largest mobile service provider in France, has disclosed a significant cyber breach that has compromised the personal data of millions of its users. The company revealed that the unauthorized access affected approximately 6.4 million customer accounts. The cyberattack, detected on August 4, prompted Bouygues to alert the public, although they have not specified when the issue was fully resolved. In their communication, the telecom operator detailed that the stolen information encompasses customer contact details, contractual agreements, civil status, and international bank account numbers (IBANs). With a total customer base of around 26.9 million mobile subscribers, Bouygues has taken steps to notify France’s data protection authority, CNIL, regarding the incident. Interestingly, the company’s dedicated webpage addressing the breach was found to contain a hidden “noindex” tag, preventing search engines from indexing it, which raises questions about transparency. A Bouygues spokesperson has yet to provide further insight into the specifics of the attack or clarify the decision to obscure the breach information from search engine results. This incident follows closely on the heels of a similar attack on Orange, the largest telecom operator in France, which has affected more than 290 million customers globally. Orange had previously warned its customers of potential service disruptions as it took measures to manage the fallout from their own security breach.