ShinyHunters Claims 297GB HR and Payroll Data from Council of Europe
ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for breaching the Council of Europe (coe.int), alleging theft of over 297 GB (429,000+ files) of HR, payroll, and personnel data including payslips, CVs, employee files, bank details, medical records, and salaries for thousands of staff and contractors. The group threatened to leak the data unless demands are met, with the claim appearing on their leak site around June 13-14. The incident is distinct from other recent ShinyHunters activity and remains unconfirmed by the organization.
- hr-data
- payroll
- personal-information
- financial
- medical
A group known as ShinyHunters has claimed responsibility for stealing more than 297 GB of HR and payroll records from the Council of Europe, data that includes payslips, CVs, employee files, bank details, medical records and salary information for over 10,000 staff members and contractors.
Public reporting indicates the claim appeared on the group’s leak site around 13-14 June 2026. The files allegedly contain personal and financial information belonging to both current and former personnel as well as individuals who have worked with the organisation. The Council of Europe has not yet confirmed the breach, and the incident appears separate from other recent ShinyHunters activity. Available reporting describes the volume as 429,000-plus files, making it one of the larger caches of sensitive employment data offered for sale or extortion in recent months. Industry research from sources such as DoxxScan™ continuous monitoring indicates that HR and payroll breaches frequently expose combinations of full names, dates of birth, national identification numbers, home addresses, bank account details and health information.
Want the rest of this breakdown?
Sign up free to keep reading. Members get extended access, the weekly breach digest, and a complimentary Warden™ to see if their identity is exposed in the breaches we cover.
A breach leaks your credentials. Then hackers chain those credentials to your address, family, phone, and employer using public broker sites. We’re the only tool built around that chain.
⚠ Were you in this breach?
Free email scanner. We check your address against 15.4B+ leaked records in 15 seconds — then show you the $19 cleanup that removes you from the broker sites aggregating leaked data.
Check my email — free →