France's Third Largest Mobile Operator Confirms 6.4M Customers Breached
Bouygues Telecom, France’s third-largest mobile operator, has confirmed a cyberattack that exposed personal data from 6.4 million customer accounts. While the exact method and scope of the breach remain undisclosed, the company stated it has notified all affected individuals via email or text. Bouygues, which serves over 18 million mobile customers and 4.2 million fiber customers, has reported the incident to France’s data protection authority (CNIL) and filed a complaint with judicial authorities.
This breach follows a separate cyber incident at Orange, France’s largest telecom provider, although Orange reported no compromise of customer data. The French cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, recently warned of increasing state-sponsored attacks targeting telecom infrastructure for espionage purposes. In its annual review, ANSSI revealed that sophisticated threat actors had infiltrated mobile network cores and satellite communication systems to intercept communications, with parallels drawn to the Salt Typhoon breaches in the U.S.
Incidents like the Bouygues Telecom breach serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need for proactive, end-to-end cybersecurity. Organizations operating critical infrastructure must implement solutions that provide 100% visibility and situational awareness - not just at the perimeter, but deep within the network, infrastructure, endpoints, and applications. Full packet capture is essential in this effort, enabling security teams to reconstruct incidents, identify root causes, and detect threats that may bypass traditional monitoring. Without this level of insight, attackers can remain undetected for extended periods, increasing the risk of data loss, espionage, and service disruption. Investing in such comprehensive security architecture is not just a defensive measure - it's a strategic imperative in an era where breaches are increasingly sophisticated and high-impact. Read more about this story on our LinkedIn page
This breach follows a separate cyber incident at Orange, France’s largest telecom provider, although Orange reported no compromise of customer data. The French cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, recently warned of increasing state-sponsored attacks targeting telecom infrastructure for espionage purposes. In its annual review, ANSSI revealed that sophisticated threat actors had infiltrated mobile network cores and satellite communication systems to intercept communications, with parallels drawn to the Salt Typhoon breaches in the U.S.
Incidents like the Bouygues Telecom breach serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need for proactive, end-to-end cybersecurity. Organizations operating critical infrastructure must implement solutions that provide 100% visibility and situational awareness - not just at the perimeter, but deep within the network, infrastructure, endpoints, and applications. Full packet capture is essential in this effort, enabling security teams to reconstruct incidents, identify root causes, and detect threats that may bypass traditional monitoring. Without this level of insight, attackers can remain undetected for extended periods, increasing the risk of data loss, espionage, and service disruption. Investing in such comprehensive security architecture is not just a defensive measure - it's a strategic imperative in an era where breaches are increasingly sophisticated and high-impact. Read more about this story on our LinkedIn page