Man charged with hack which shared COVID-19 test details in protest against vaccine pass

Graham Cluley
Graham Cluley
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@gcluley

Man charged with hack which shared COVID-19 test details in protest against vaccine pass

Police in France have arrested and charged a 22-year-old man with hacking into a “secure” file-sharing systems used by a Parisian hospital trust, and stealing the COVID-19 test details for some 1.4 million people.

According to local media reports, the alleged hacker not only stole highly sensitive information from Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), but also distributed the data as part of an anti-vaccine protest.

The French government requires individuals to carry a “vaccine pass” (known as a passe sanitaire)if they wish to enter cafés, bars, restaurants, museums, cinemas, and access events.

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Although many French people are happy to carry the pass (because they’re not crazy), others have protested that being vaccinated against a potentially deadly virus that can infect others is an infringement of their civil liberties.

Last month, AP-HP announced that it had suffered a data breach, which saw patients’ full names, dates of birth, gender, social security numbers, home addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, and test results from mid-2020, distributed via the file-sharing site Mega.

Ap hp

The hack is said to have involved a “secure file-sharing service” used by AP-HP in September 2020 to transmit information to other agencies to assist in contact tracing. Clearly things weren’t quite as secure as one might have hoped.

Authorities believe that the arrested man uploaded the stolen data to Mega. Although the stolen information was subsequently removed from the file-sharing site, it was too late to prevent others from distributing their own copies of the data.


Graham Cluley is an award-winning keynote speaker who has given presentations around the world about cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. A veteran of the computer security industry since the early 1990s, he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows, makes regular media appearances, and is the co-host of the popular "Smashing Security" podcast. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.

4 comments on “Man charged with hack which shared COVID-19 test details in protest against vaccine pass”

  1. Jonathan Ennis

    If you are infected with SARS-Cov-2, you MIGHT develop Covid-19, or you might NOT. If you do develop Covid-19, there is an 80 percent chance of a mild infection. Those LEAST IMPACTED are individuals under the age of 35. Does this really sound like something that requires vaccine passports? What's crazier, questioning the validity of government mandates forcing people to inject foreign material into their bodies, or championing government mandates forcing other people to inject foreign material into their bodies because of YOUR fear? Do you know what R0 and R1 values are? No? If you haven't taken the time to do some basic independent research, then it's a little premature to be calling people crazy, don't you think?

    1. John Dobski · in reply to Jonathan Ennis

      Your tinfoil hat is sitting crooked on your head.

    2. Davy · in reply to Jonathan Ennis

      Crazy is not the correct term. However, the overall benefits of vaccinations for many infectious diseases have been proved over many years. Vaccination reduces virus load and virus transmission which is the argument for vaccine passports. In the region of 8 out of 10 people hospitalised with Covid are not vaccinated. This is their choice, even if it puts a load on public resources. However, passports are about protecting others and with civil liberties comes civil responsibilites.
      That includes a responsibility to NOT steal and distribute the personal information of others.

      1. John · in reply to Davy

        This vaccines efficacy is waning by large percentages every month. An Israeli study shows it dropping nearly ten percent every month. It does not stop transmission to others, and only reduces the viral load if you serially take the therapy. It is not traditional vaccine. There are other therapies at this point, and it should not be mandated. If you are unaware of this then you my friend are wearing the tin foil hat.

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