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CRIME

Medical data of 500,000 French patients leaked online

The medical data of around 500,000 people, taken from 30 medical laboratories in northern France, has been published online after a computer hack.

Published: 24 February 2021 16:30 CET
Updated: 25 February 2021 12:23 CET
Medical data of 500,000 French patients leaked online
The medical data of about half a million people was circulating online. Photo: AFP

The stolen files include the names of 491,840 patients, their contact information as well as confidential medical information and even their password, according to French newspaper Libération.

The document, containing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and social security numbers, was initially shared on hacker forums and dark web sites.

For some patients the information includes their blood type, personal doctor or insurance company, and even notes on their health condition and medical treatments.

According to Libération, which investigated the leak, the data was taken from around 30 medical laboratories, mostly located in north-western France, that were all using the same software to collect their patients’ data.

It corresponds to samples taken between 2015 and October 2020.

The database was first identified on a website called Zataz about two weeks ago. It was the subject of commercial negotiations between hackers specialising in exchanging stolen data, the newspaper reported.

The Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL), the administrative regulatory body in charge of data privacy law, launched an investigation on Wednesday, according to AFP.

Several French hospitals have in recent weeks been the subject of cyberattacks and a €1bn package of measures has been announced to address the attacks – some of which are criminal and some seem to be politicial.

If the extent of the leak is confirmed, it would constitute “a particularly grave one”, considering the number of victims and the sensitivity of the information, the secretary general of the CNIL Louis Dutheillet told AFP.

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DISCRIMINATION

French LGBTQ groups ‘extremely concerned’ over increase in attacks

France saw a sharp rise in anti-LGBTQ incidents in 2023, according to a report published by the French interior ministry on Thursday, an increase activists warn marks a worrying trend in the country.

Published: 16 May 2024 16:41 CEST
French LGBTQ groups 'extremely concerned' over increase in attacks

The report – released on the eve of the World Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia – documents a 13 percent jump in anti-LGBTQ offences from 2022.

More serious crimes including assaults, threats, and harassment saw a 19 percent increase, with 2,870 instances recorded by French authorities.

“It feels like the embers of LGBTI-phobia have been lit, and now the fire is ready to take hold,” said president of French activist group SOS Homophobie Julia Torlet.

“What worries us most are the emerging trends…we are extremely concerned,” Torlet added, saying “if the government doesn’t act” France risks backsliding into the violence seen in 2013 over the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

The number of anti-LGBTQ incidents has risen sharply – about 17 percent on average each year for crimes and misdemeanours – since 2016, according to the interior ministry.

But these figures only paint part of the picture.

Men account for the majority of both victims and perpetrators in anti-LGBTQ incidents, accounting for 70 and 82 percent, respectively.

Moreover, the perpetrators are predominately young, with nearly half of all accused under 30 and more than a third under 19, says the report.

While the report says victims are now “better received” by authorities, only 20 percent of those subjected to threats or violence and five percent of victims of verbal abuse file a complaint.

“We’re past the worry stage,” spokesman for Stop Homophobie Maxime Haes told AFP.

Anti-LGBTQ acts are linked to the “drastic increase in LGBT-phobic discourse,” said Haes, which he says are fuelled by “the rise of the far right and religious extremism”.

The owner of a bar in Nantes, a city in western France, told regional newspaper Ouest-France it cancelled an LGBTQ-friendly event in early May over safety concerns after a poster featuring individuals in religious habits sparked an “outpouring of hate” online.

And in France, 60 percent of people avoid holding hands with same-sex partners for fear of being assaulted, according to a 2024 report from the European Agency for Fundamental Rights.

The country has also seen a spike in transphobic discourse, Haes said.

SOS Homophobie has denounced what it calls “abysmal government silence” and criticised the lack of “ambitious policy” on LGBTQ issues even after the appointment of out gay Prime Minister Gabriel Attal earlier this year.

“Hate speech is not being combatted at all by politicians,” Haes of Stop Homophobie added.

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