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French telecoms fined €42 million for major GDPR data breach

Scworld • January 15, 2026

French telecom companies Free and Free Mobile have been fined a collective €42 million ( $48.8 million) by the CNIL for violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) following a significant data breach. The breach, which occurred in October 2024, compromised the personal data of over 24 million individuals, including sensitive financial information like IBANs, The Register reports.

The CNIL found that the companies failed to implement robust security measures, including inadequate VPN authentication and ineffective systems for detecting abnormal activity. Furthermore, their data retention policies and breach notification procedures were deemed insufficient.

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France fines Free Mobile €42 million for 2024 data breach affecting millions The French data protection authority, CNIL, has fined Free Mobile and its parent company €42 million for a data breach that occurred in October 2024. The breach compromised the personal data of over 24 million individuals, including sensitive financial information such as IBANs. The attack was executed through a management tool, with hackers planning to sell the stolen data on a hacker forum. 5 sources 51

French telecoms fined €42 million for major GDPR data breach

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