Hackers have made off with personal information on 100,000 people after a cyber-attack on French state-run broadcaster France Télévisions.
The attack happened on Tuesday and compromised “a limited amount of personal data (names, postal and email addresses and/or telephone numbers),” according to a statement by the broadcaster seen by AFP.
The stolen data apparently included 108,000 contacts dating back to March last year plus 19,000 viewer requests to take part in game shows.
No bank details or passwords were exposed but the broadcaster has warned the affected viewers to look out for phishing attempts in the future.
The hackers are believed to hail from a group known as the Linker Squad which was linked to a January attack on another French TV channel, TF1.
The group is reportedly set to sell the credentials on the dark web.
France Télévisions’ technical director, Stephane Van Bosterhaudt, admitted to AFP that the broadcaster’s cyber-defenses “were insufficient.”
The news comes just days after pro-ISIS hackers managed to take 11 channels off air for several hours after an advanced targeted attack on TV5Monde.
Unlike the attack on France Télévisions, last week’s hack appears not to have been motivated by financial gain.
TV5Monde’s social media pages were defaced with pro-ISIS messages and the attackers reportedly posted the personal details of what they claimed were French military personnel currently fighting the Islamic State.
Experts suggested at the time that the attack was a well-planned affair which probably began by the hackers compromising privileged accounts over a period of time, before accessing TV5Monde’s network and finding the broadcasting servers.
Pro-ISIS cyber-attackers have already managed to hack the Twitter accounts of US Central Command, Newsweek and other high-profile organizations. However, the attack on TV5Monde is thought to be the first in which threat actors managed to disrupt TV broadcasts.