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Showing posts with label French Government. Show all posts
Messaging App Security
Account Hacking Cyber Attacks Data Breaches Data Safety User Data data security French Government Hijacking attacks Messaging App Security

French Government Messaging Platform Tchap Breached After Hijacked User Account Attack

 

A surprise alert came from Paris when officials revealed a security flaw in Tchap, the nation’s encrypted chat system. Through a hijacked login, intruders slipped inside without immediate detection. Only later did analysts at the country's cyber defense unit spot unusual activity. Their probe began quietly, tracing paths taken and files touched during the unauthorized visit. Questions now linger about what data could have been seen or copied in the gap before discovery. 

Starting in 2018, France's DINUM introduced Tchap alongside the country’s cybersecurity body, ANSSI. Built using the Matrix framework, this tool serves only state workers and official institutions through secure chats and teamwork functions. Since launch, usage expanded - now counting above 300,000 people logging in each month, with half a million installs just on Android. Growth picked up speed when Prime Minister François Bayrou advised staff to switch work conversations to Tchap rather than rely on non-European apps. 

Later that week, signs of intrusion appeared on the interface - ANSSI spotted irregular behavior tied to one logged-in profile. That channel got shut down fast, stopping extra breaches. From there, scrutiny turned to stored records, checking what exchanges or documents might have leaked. Though control slipped briefly, response narrowed the risk without delay. Even though no breach occurred, France's digital agency reached out to CNIL due to possible exposure of personal details via the app. 

While public discussions remain accessible to verified participants, those conversations lack encryption safeguards. Because privacy risks exist, officials emphasize handling delicate data strictly within protected one-on-one exchanges. Only secured channels offer the level of protection needed for such content. Over the weekend, someone took credit for the incident, saying they got in by manipulating people rather than exploiting code. 

Though officials haven’t shared specifics about how it happened, the claim points to deception as the entry method. Access reportedly began with an account tied to Tchap’s school-focused systems. From there, information visible within that account was gathered without permission. Among the claims made was access to fixed LDAP login details, left visible inside a PowerShell file circulated by someone working for the state. 

It followed that large volumes of data - over 13 gigabytes - were reportedly copied, spanning both documents and multimedia content. From those materials emerged close to 650,000 individual messages. Account-related records tied to over seventy-three thousand users were pulled apart, revealing emails, affiliations, scheduled call URLs, plus background system logs. 

A separate assertion pointed to how easily such scripts could expose sensitive internal structures. Still examining the reports, investigators work to measure how far the effects reach. When hackers trick users or steal logins, even coded messaging apps can fail - this case shows it once again.
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Smartphones
Cyber Security France French Government Israel Pegasus Smartphones

5 French Minister Phones Affected with Pegasus Spyware

 

At least five French ministers and President Emmanuel Macron's diplomatic advisor mobile phones have been infected by Israel-made Pegasus spyware, whistle-blowers confirmed on Friday 24th of September. 

As per a Mediapart report on Friday, French security agencies have discovered software during the phone inspection, with breaches reported in 2019 and 2020. 

In July Pegasus produced by NSO Group, the Israeli company, was already in the middle of a hurricane following a list of around 50,000 possible surveillance targets worldwide leaking to the media, and was capable of switching the camera or microphone and harbor their data. 

The insinuation was made about two months after the Pegasus Project, the media consortium which included the Guardian, found that a leaked database at the core of the investigatory project included contact information of top France officials, including French President Emmanuel Macron and most of its 20-strong cabinet. 

There is no strong proof of successful hacking of phones of the five cabinet members however media reports suggest that the devices were targeted by the potent spyware known as Pegasus, which is created by the NSO Group. 

Pegasus enables users to track the conversation, text messages, pictures, and location whenever installed effectively by government customers within the Israeli firm and can convert phones into remotely controlled listening devices. 

The consortium of Pegasus Project, organized by the French Forbidden Stories non-profit media, showed that international customers of NSO utilized hacker tools to attack journalists and human rights organizations. 

NSO reportedly stated that its strong malware is designed not to target civilian society members but to probe severe criminals. It has stated it has no link to the leaked database reviewed by the Pegasus Project and also the tens of thousands of numbers included do not target NSO customers. It has also firmly disputed that Pegasus Spyware has always targeted Macron. 

In a statement released on Thursday night, NSO said: “We stand by our previous statements regarding French government officials. They are not and have never been Pegasus targets. We won’t comment on anonymous source allegations.” 

Furthermore, the authenticity of the allegation was verified by two French individuals with knowledge of the inquiry, but they asked not to be named since they had not been allowed to talk to the media. 

"My phone is one of those checked out by the national IT systems security agency, but I haven't yet heard anything about the investigation so I cannot comment at this stage," Wargon told the L'Opinion website Friday. 

Mediapart stated that the handsets of the ministers for education (Jean-Michel Blanquer), Jacqueline Gourault, Julien Denormandie, Emmanuelle Wargon, Sébastien Lecornu and others – displayed indications of the virus Pegasus. The report noted that at the time of the allegations of targeting that happened in 2019 and less often in 2020, not all the Ministers had their current roles, but all were Ministers. The phone of the Macron Diplomatic Consultants at the Elysee Palace was also targeted. 

The Élysée Palace also stated that it would not comment on “long and complex investigations which are still ongoing”. 

The Prosecutor's Office refused to comment or to clarify whether or whether not the ministers' phone hacking had been found, stating that the investigation was subject to judicial confidentiality regulations. Although since the end of July, when the palace officials notified prudence, the Élysée has not reacted to the Pegasus affair and said that “no certainty at this stage”.
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Stormshield
Data Breach data security French Government Passwords Stormshield

Security Firm Stormshield Discloses Data Breach, Theft of Source Code


Stormshield is a French based leading cyber-security firm that provides network security services and security equipment to the government. Recently the firm discovered that malicious actors have used one of its customer support portals and stole sensitive credentials of some of its customers. While reporting the same to the press, the firm also said that hackers successfully managed to steal parts of the source code for the Stromshield Network Security (SNS) firewall, a product certified for use in sensitive government networks, as part of infiltration. 

The organization told that its team is investigating the attack and assessing the impact of the breach on government systems with the French cyber-security agency ANSSI (Agence Nationale de la Sécurité des Systèmes d'Information). 

"As of today, the in-depth analysis carried out with the support of the relevant authorities has not identified any evidence of illegitimate modification in the code, nor have any of the Stormshield products in operation been compromised," Stormshield said in a message posted earlier today on its website. 

The cybersecurity department of the French government is taking this cyberattack as a major data breach. The French cyber-security agency ANSSI noted in its own press release that "Stormshield SNS and SNI products have been 'under observation' for the duration of the investigation." 

Additionally, Stromshield has informed that its department is reviewing the SNS source code and has also taken some major steps to prevent further attacks on the firm. The Company has also replaced the digital certificates which were used to sign SNS software updates. 

"New updates have been made available to customers and partners so that their products can work with this new certificate, all the support tickets and technical exchanges in the accounts concerned have been reviewed and the results have been communicated to the customers," Stormshield spokesperson said. 

“Only about 2% of customer’s accounts were affected in the breach, which is "around 200 accounts out of more than 10,000." He added. 

Furthermore, the French security firm said “it also reset passwords for its tech support portal, which the attackers breached, and the Stormshield Institute portal, used for customer training courses, which weren’t breached, but the company decided to reset passwords as a preventive measure”.
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