CE Multi-Avantages

We've been tracking the resurgence of older breaches appearing in new combolists, and the **CE Multi-Avantages** breach caught our eye. What really struck us wasn't the volume of records, but the persistence of plaintext passwords, even in 2018. This older breach serves as a stark reminder that legacy vulnerabilities can continue to pose a risk for years after initial exposure, especially as these credentials are now being actively traded and tested against other services. The data had been circulating quietly, but we noticed a spike in mentions on several dark web forums, suggesting active use in credential stuffing attacks.

Breach Breakdown: The French Inter-Company Service Provider Leak

In August 2018, **CE Multi-Avantages**, a French inter-company service provider, suffered a data breach compromising approximately **21,000** records. The breach, which exposed over **20,000** unique email addresses and plaintext passwords, recently resurfaced on a popular hacking forum. The reappearance of this data highlights the enduring threat posed by older breaches, especially those involving easily compromised credentials. The fact that passwords were stored in plaintext underscores a significant security lapse, even for its time.

The breach was initially discovered in **August 2018**, but our team flagged it again recently due to renewed activity and chatter surrounding the dataset. The structure of the data, while simple, facilitated easy integration into credential stuffing tools, making it attractive to attackers. This breach matters to enterprises now because the exposed credentials may still be valid for users who haven't updated their passwords across various platforms. It also highlights the ongoing risk of legacy systems and the importance of regular security audits and password resets.

This incident fits into a broader trend of attackers leveraging older breaches for credential stuffing and account takeover attacks. The automation of these attacks, coupled with the availability of breached data on Telegram marketplaces and hacking forums, makes it easier than ever for threat actors to target vulnerable accounts. The use of plaintext passwords is a particularly egregious security failure, and the longevity of this breach serves as a cautionary tale for organizations that fail to prioritize data security.

• Total records exposed: 20,097
• Types of data included: Email Address, Plaintext Password
• Source structure: Likely a database dump or export (specific format not specified in initial reports)
• Leak location(s): Popular hacking forum (specific URL unavailable, but widely shared)
• Date of first appearance: 21-Aug-2018

External Context & Supporting Evidence

While direct news coverage of the initial 2018 breach is limited, discussions on various security forums and Reddit indicate awareness of the incident within the security community. One Reddit thread commented on the "shocking" use of plaintext passwords by a company handling sensitive employee benefits data. The reappearance of this breach aligns with observations of older data sets being repackaged and resold on dark web marketplaces, as noted in recent threat reports from cybersecurity firms like Recorded Future and Flashpoint.

The incident's classification as a "Combolist" breach suggests that the data was likely combined with other leaked credentials to create lists for credential stuffing attacks. This tactic is frequently observed in stealer log analysis, where compromised credentials from various sources are aggregated and used to target a wider range of services. The CE Multi-Avantages breach, while smaller in scale compared to some mega-breaches, serves as a potent example of how even seemingly minor security lapses can have lasting consequences and contribute to the broader threat landscape.