Telecommunications company Orange said it suffered a significant data security incident that disrupted its daily operations, primarily impacting customers in Belgium.
In a press release issued on August 20, Orange said that it had detected a data security incident in late July, involving unauthorised access to certain data from 850,000 customer accounts within its internal network.
Orange Belgium promptly initiated an investigation into the incident, enlisting the support of external cyber security experts to assess its nature and scope. The telecom company also took immediate action to block the unauthorised access and reinforced its internal security protocols. In addition, Orange Belgium notified the appropriate law enforcement agencies and formally filed a complaint with the judicial authorities.
“No critical data was compromised: no passwords, email addresses, bank or financial details were hacked.
“However, the hacker gained access to one of our IT systems containing the following data: surname, first name, telephone number, SIM card number, PUK code, tariff plan,” Orange said in its press release.
The telecom company stated that, due to the ongoing investigation, it is unable to disclose further details at this time. However, customers impacted by the incident have been, or will be, notified via email and/or text message.
The notorious Warlock ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Orange Belgium, listing the company as a victim on its data leak site. The group released a 4GB sample of the stolen data and has threatened to publish the entire database if its ransom demands are not fulfilled.
Earlier this year, Orange disclosed separate data security incidents affecting its customers in France and Romania.
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.”