Orange hit by major data security incident disrupting operations in France

French telecommunications company Orange said it suffered a significant data security incident that disrupted its daily operations, primarily impacting customers in France.

 

On July 28, in a press release, Orange said that on July 25, the company detected a data security incident within its internal network. The telecom giant immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

 

Orange Cyberdefence identified the compromised segments of the network and promptly isolated them from the rest, potentially minimising the overall impact.

 

“These isolation operations have had the consequence of disrupting certain services and management platforms for some of our Business customers and for some Consumer services mainly in France. Our dedicated teams are fully mobilised to inform and support the customers concerned.

 

“Our teams have identified and are implementing the solutions that make it possible, under enhanced vigilance, to reopen the main impacted services gradually by Wednesday morning, July 30,” Orange said.

 

The incident has been reported to relevant authorities and the telecom company is working with them to resolve the incident.

 

“At this stage of the investigation, there is no evidence to suggest that data from our customers or Orange have been exfiltrated. The highest vigilance on this point is maintained.

 

For obvious security reasons Orange will not make further comments,” Orange added.

 

In February, Orange suffered another data security incident in its Romania division; however, the breach was limited to a non-critical application.

 

In a statement shared with the media, an Orange spokesperson said, “Orange can confirm that our operations in Romania have been the target of a cyberattack. We took immediate action, and our top priority remains protecting the data and interests of our employees, customers and partners. There has been no impact on customers’ operations, and the breach was found to occur on a non-critical back office application.”