France Confirms Cyberattack on Tax Agency, Data of Taxpayers Stolen

The French Finance Ministry has confirmed a cyberattack on the country's tax authority, the General Direction of Public Finances, resulting in the theft of taxpayer data. The breach affected both individual and professional taxpayers.

The ministry stated that a "malicious actor" claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the intrusion, which allegedly occurred in late June. Investigations have since verified the attack, confirming that data was both consulted and extracted from the agency's systems.

Authorities are currently conducting further probes to determine the precise scope of the breach, including which specific data sets were compromised and the exact number of affected taxpayers. The ministry has pledged to disclose additional findings as the investigation progresses.

In a statement, the ministry assured that affected users will be individually notified, with details on the specific information that may have been accessed or extracted. Where necessary, precautionary measures will also be recommended to those impacted.

Meanwhile, FrenchBreaches, a platform that tracks cyberattacks in the country, has reported that data belonging to close to 700,000 taxpayers was stolen, citing information obtained from the alleged hackers. Ministry spokespeople have not yet responded to requests for comment on this figure.