Cyber Attack Targets French Engineering Consultant Altran

Cybersecurity experts have warned that the massive data breach that might be the biggest ever posted on the internet is just the beginning.

The trove of sensitive information that was published to the internet this week, allowing anyone to download a collection of hundreds of millions of email addresses and passwords. They are likely to make an impact, as criminals try to break into people’s account.

Researchers say there is a host of sensitive information being passed on the internet, many of which are far bigger than what one could anticipate.

The recent report on Reuters about France’s engineering consultancy Altran Technologies was the target of a cyber-attack that hit operations in some European countries.

Altran said it had shut down its IT network and applications and a recovery plan was underway.

Altran officials say “We have mobilized leading global third-party technical experts and forensics, and the investigation we have conducted with them has not identified any stolen data nor instances of propagation of the incident to our clients.”

Their clients include French utility Engie, U.S. satellite operator Iridium, British online supermarket Ocado and Britain’s Network Rail.

As said above this is just the beginning,  and governments are increasingly warning about the risks private businesses face from cyber attacks, both those carried out by foreign governments and financially motivated criminals.

Take for instance Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre announced on Friday it was investigating a large-scale Domain Name System (DNS) hijacking campaign that hit government and commercial organizations worldwide.

Nyrstar, the metals producer also said it had been hit by a cyber-attack, leading it to shut down some of its IT systems to contain the issue.