French email provider accidentally leaked 40 million records LOreal,
Renault, French government data exposed

Date:
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:25:00 +0000

Description:
Millions of email addresses exposed through an open Elasticsearch cluster.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Pro Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Become a Member in Seconds Unlock instant access to exclusive member features. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are
now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Join the club Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards. Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Alinto left Elasticsearch cluster exposed online 40 million SMTP records leaked, including 4.5 million unique emails Data from major corporations and French government agencies at risk A French email solutions provider kept an Elasticsearch cluster open on the internet, leaking email addresses and location details on millions of people, as well
as large corporations and government entities, experts have warned.

The cluster contained 40 million Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) records that were available to anyone with an internet connection, a browser, and knowledge on where to look. The server also apparently hosted an SMTP server under Cleanmail.eu, which is Alintos email security relay solution. Security researchers from Cybernews discovered the open database and notified the owners, who subsequently locked it down. Article continues below You may like Massive breach leaks 45 million French records: demographic, healthcare, and financial data all leaked, here's what we know Massive Chinese data breach allegedly spills 8.7 billion records - here's what we know Pax8 accidentally exposes partner data - 1,800 MSPs have customer info and licensing details exposed Risk potential In its research report, the Cybernews team said it found an Elasticsearch cluster belonging to Alinto, a French company that offers solutions to keep email communication up and running, protect email infrastructure from cyber-attacks, and ensure the deliverability of high-volume transactional emails.

The server also apparently hosted an SMTP server under Cleanmail.eu, which is Alintos email security relay solution.

The records contained the following information:

Sender email address, Recipient email address, Location details, Relay IP addresses Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Among the affected companies were LOreal, Renault, and DHL, as well as numerous French government agencies, including government branches, municipalities, but also French embassies worldwide - with at least 14,000 unique government email addresses leaked.

While losing email addresses doesnt feel like much of a damage, Cybernews explained why the leak is potentially dangerous:

Having information about which addresses communicate between each other, and at what times reveal behavioural data, which can help with further attacks - impersonating a person you commonly communicate with, sending communications as expected when they are expected, the Cybernews team explained. What to
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Moreover, this can also help build relationship maps which can be used to infer certain sensitive company information, such as launches of new
products.

Of the 40 million records, at least 4.5 million are unique email addresses, which might be seeing more spam going forward. It is unknown if any threat actors discovered the database before the researchers. The best antivirus for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best antivirus 1. Best overall: Bitdefender Total Security 2. Best for families: Norton 360 with LifeLock 3. Best for mobile: McAfee Mobile Security Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/french-email-provider-accidentally-leak ed-40-million-records-loreal-renault-french-government-data-exposed


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