The question of whether 2025 marked a decline in digital piracy, as suggested by some institutional reports, or if we are witnessing a profound restructuring of threats that are now more automated, more industrialized, and often less visible, is critical.
While Europe, and France in particular, has been the focus of media attention due to spectacular data leaks, the dynamics observed in 2025 go far beyond this geographical context. These concerns are relevant in environments where global platforms, cultural industries, cloud services, and structuring legal frameworks interact constantly.
This retrospective look at anti-piracy and cybersecurity in 2025 is part of this global perspective. The French examples offer valuable insights, but the analysis primarily aims to illuminate systemic trends within a predominantly globalized digital landscape.
The year 2025 was a turning point for French cybersecurity. According to consolidated data for the first half of the year, nearly 1.8 million accounts were compromised between January and June, placing France at the top of the list of European countries most affected by data leaks. This trend has led to a series of significant incidents impacting both private operators and public institutions.
In February 2025, third-party payment operators Viamedis and Almerys suffered a significant data breach. A total of 33 million people had their data exposed, including social security numbers, civil status, and health insurance information.
This attack highlighted the structural vulnerability of intermediary providers, who are often perceived as secondary technical players but in reality hold considerable volumes of sensitive data. The healthcare sector, already under pressure, has confirmed its status as a primary target for cybercriminals.
The Free Mobile breach, revealed in 2025 but initiated at the end of 2024, remains one of the most significant incidents of the year. The breach impacted nearly 19.2 million subscribers, including 5.1 million IBANs. The arrest of a 17-year-old in January underscored a concerning trend: the increasing early access to advanced technical capabilities.
Bouygues Telecom has confirmed that 6.4 million customers were affected by unauthorized access to their data. This occurred a few months later. The compromised data included contact details, contract information, and banking details, underscoring the need for comprehensive and sustained investment in cybersecurity to address systemic flaws effectively.
France Travail, a government employment agency, was a recurring target in 2025. The year was marked by three significant data breaches. In July, the Kairos application exposed the personal information of 340,000 job seekers. In the fall, the Stormous group hacked 31,000 accounts. In December, data concerning 1.6 million young people was leaked via the Missions Locales.
Concurrently, the Ministry of Sports experienced a cyberattack at the end of the year that affected nearly 3.5 million households via the Pass’Sport system. These incidents underscore the obsolescence of certain public information systems and the complexity of coordination between heterogeneous platforms.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are particularly vulnerable targets for cybercriminals due to their limited resources, increased dependence on digital services, and growing exposure to digital supply chains.
The 2025 barometer from Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr presents a paradoxical picture. Small French businesses have a more accurate understanding of potential risks. However, they recognize that they lack the capacity to effectively address these issues.
According to recent findings,
The survey of companies reveals an average of 4.06 protection solutions per company, with a significant increase in the use of password management policies, credential managers, and two-factor authentication. Phishing continues to be the predominant method of attack, accounting for 43% of reported incidents.
Despite an increase in IT budgets for nearly one in five companies, investment remains low, with three-quarters of organizations spending less than €2,000 per year on cybersecurity. The scarcity of skills, time, and financial resources is increasing, and 28% of executives now consider cybersecurity to be a low priority.
Beyond the figures, this situation reveals a more structural problem: cybersecurity is still perceived as a technical or regulatory constraint, rather than a business continuity issue. In instances where obligations are present, they are often perceived as abstract or unrelated to day-to-day operations. This perception partially explains the tendency to prioritize visible tools over processes, governance, or team training, despite the crucial role these elements play in incident prevention.
According to Cloudflare’s latest transparency report, there has been a significant surge in copyright-related takedown actions. By opening APIs to rights holders, we have enabled faster targeting of illegal sports streaming feeds. This has led to the closure of more than 20,000 storage accounts in six months.
The Internet Archive was compelled to block access to specific works in Belgium, facing a potential fine of €500,000. This case demonstrates the expansion of anti-piracy mechanisms to intricate legal disputes concerning access to knowledge and copyright.
Disputes involving AI have also increased. Meta is facing growing controversy over its use of pirated archives to train its models, while publishers are obtaining blocking measures against automated republication platforms.
In Northern Europe, pirate IPTV consumption remains high despite a slight decline in Sweden. In Norway, public debate has identified the cost of legal subscriptions as a contributing factor.
From a technical standpoint, vulnerabilities detected in PlayReady DRM prompted swift responses from Microsoft and Amazon, highlighting the central role of protection technologies in the streaming economy.
Criminal convictions, such as that of a former Memphis employee sentenced to 57 months in prison for theft of physical media, coexist with actions targeting digital tools, such as SpotifyDL or the Telegram and Discord platforms identified by the RIAA.
These actions clearly indicate a shift in anti-piracy strategies. The focus has shifted from large, prominent sites to the infrastructure, technical intermediaries, and distribution channels that facilitate piracy. Browser extensions, bots, community spaces, and storage services are becoming primary targets, as neutralizing them directly disrupts usage without requiring extensive blockages.
This more detailed approach is supported by an increasing use of automation in detection and removal processes. While this approach enables significant efficiency gains, it also raises ongoing concerns regarding false positives, the transparency of decision-making processes, and the ability of legitimate users to challenge abusive removals.
The year 2025 confirms a reality that is now well established: the threat is not disappearing, it is transforming. Attacks are becoming more automated, hacking practices more fragmented, and institutional responses faster but also more contested. The challenge for the coming years will not only be to block or punish, but to anticipate. Anticipate practices, anticipate technological abuses, anticipate regulatory blind spots. Cybersecurity and anti-piracy are no longer defensive measures: they are now key drivers of trust, competitiveness, and digital sovereignty. Join us in February for our new theme. In the meantime, if you have a movie, TV series, software, or e-book that you want to protect, don’t hesitate to call on our services by contacting one of our account managers. PDN has been a pioneer in cybersecurity and anti-piracy for over ten years, and we are sure to have a solution to help you. Happy reading, and see you soon!
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