Only 17 years old and already a seasoned pirate. At the end of 2024, Free Mobile was the victim of a large-scale cyberattack. The data of 19 million customers, including IBANs, was found in the wild. A few weeks later, the culprit appears to have been identified.
Ironically (Xavier Niel had also started his career with hacking), the culprit would be a 17-year-old teenager from Breuillet in Essonne. He was taken into custody, indicates The Parisian.
Already known to the police for similar actsthe suspect allegedly admitted to investigators having received 10,000 euros for the resale of stolen data. A sum much lower than the 175,000 euros initially mentioned in this affair which hit the headlines in October 2024.
A hack of unprecedented scale
The attack, which occurred between October 8 and 21, 2024, allowed the hacker to seize the personal information of 19.2 million of the operator’s customers, including more than 5 million IBAN numbers. To prove the authenticity of his loot, the hacker published extracts of the stolen data on specialized forums before putting the entire database up for sale.
Faced with the scale of the leak, Free quickly took legal action. The Paris court then ordered the Telegram messaging service, used by the hacker to put pressure on the operator, to reveal the identity of the criminal. A decision which could have played a crucial role in the outcome of the investigation carried out by the brigade to fight against cybercrime (BL2C).
A young hacker with a worrying profile
The teenager arrested was not his first attempt. Already under judicial control, he is also implicated in the hacking of the data of four million Sport 2000 customers in June 2024, as well as in the attack on the Twitter accounts of the Altice group (RMC and BFMTV) in March of the same year.
This last affair had particularly marked people’s minds, anti-Russian messages having been published on the hacked accounts less than 24 hours after the deadly attack in Moscow which left 137 victims. Investigations suggest possible links to cybercriminal group Epsilonwhose founders had admitted acting mainly for notoriety and the lure of profit.
At the end of his 48-hour police custody, the young man should be brought before the court.
- A 17-year-old teenager has been arrested for the massive hacking of the data of 19.2 million Free Mobile customers
- The suspect allegedly received 10,000 euros for the resale of the data and was already involved in other cyberattacks (Sport 2000, RMC/BFMTV)
- Potential links with the Epsilon cybercriminal group are mentioned by investigators
By: Bitdefender
