> ENGIE Data Breach Exposes Customer Details and Energy Contracts

ENGIE says attackers accessed French customers’ contact and energy contract data through a partner sales tool. Banking data was not affected. French multinational energy company ENGIE warned customers in France that attackers accessed personal information through a sales tool used by some business partners. The exposed data includes contact details and energy contract information that could help fraudsters impersonate the supplier. The company says its internal IT systems weren’t compromised and banking information wasn’t affected. It has blocked the attackers’ access, notified the relevant authorities and contacted affected customers, according to a spokesperson who spoke to BleepingComputer. According to notification emails sent to affected customers, the incident involved a tool used by partners to sell the company’s electricity and natural gas offers. The notification confirms that attackers gained unauthorized access to personal information stored in the sales tool. “We are informing you that an act of cyber-malice recently affected a tool used by some of our partners to market energy offers. As part of this incident, unauthorized access to your personal data was identified.” reads the notification. The compromised information includes customers’ names, postal addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, customer IDs, contract numbers and energy supply identifiers. The company hasn’t disclosed the partner or platform involved. It also hasn’t revealed how many customers were affected, when the intrusion began, or when it was discovered. For electricity customers, these include the delivery point identifier (PDL). For gas customers, they include the metering and estimation point (PCE). ENGIE says financial information wasn’t affected and that its investigation indicates the exposure was limited to contact details and certain contract information. That reduces one category of risk but doesn’t eliminate financial fraud. Attackers can use accurate customer information to persuade victims to disclose additional data or make payments. Anyway, the exposed data could support impersonation scams. The company warned customers to watch for attempts to obtain further information or induce payments. A contract number, however, doesn’t prove that a caller is legitimate. It may simply show that the person has access to an exposed record. Customers should verify unexpected requests through trusted channels, even when the sender knows their personal details. ENGIE hasn’t attributed the attack to a specific group, and at this time no ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Experts recommend visiting ENGIE’s official website or app directly instead of signing in through links received by email. Customers should also be cautious with unexpected calls and messages. If someone requests a payment, password or additional personal information, they should end the exchange and verify the request using independently obtained official contact details. Customers should never share SMS verification codes, passwords or banking details with someone who contacts them unexpectedly. Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs – hacking, data breach)