French mutual insurer Solimut hit by cyberattack, data breach scale unknown

French mutual insurer Solimut confirmed on Monday that it had been targeted by a cyberattack, initiating an investigation to precisely identify the extent of the data breach. The company detected the intrusion on Sunday morning and its teams moved quickly to isolate and halt the unauthorized access.

While Solimut has not yet released official figures on the number of affected policyholders, the specialized website Frenchbreaches reported that the attack could impact more than 1.2 million individuals. The data allegedly compromised includes 770,467 bank accounts with IBAN and BIC details, nearly 3 million postal addresses, and 1.08 million salary declarations. The insurer has committed to informing potentially impacted members once its internal investigations are complete.

In the meantime, Solimut's approximately 550,000 members are urged to exercise caution regarding any unsolicited contact via email or phone from external entities. The company acknowledged the "context of a resurgence of cyberattacks targeting health actors and public institutions." Solimut has formally notified the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority and the National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties (Cnil) about the incident.

France has been a frequent target of data breaches, attributed to the attractiveness of its data and perceived weaknesses in its cybersecurity defenses. This incident follows recent acknowledgments by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu that "few ministries are at the required level" to combat cyber threats, prompting the creation of a new rapid response cyber unit.