Massive breach in France: data on 678,000 residents stolen from state computers

The French Finance Ministry confirmed that a cyberattack on the tax authority led to the theft of information on 678,000 taxpayers, including individuals and business owners. Authorities are investigating which data was exposed, and affected individuals will receive personal notification. In addition, outages were reported on the websites of La Poste, Colissimo, and Digiposte.

The French Finance Ministry confirmed that a cyberattack on the tax authority (the General Directorate of Public Finances) led to the theft of information on 678,000 taxpayers, including individuals and business owners. The announcement was made during the night between Thursday and Friday, after on Wednesday a "malicious actor" claimed to have breached the authority's systems at the end of June. Checks confirmed the breach, and further investigations are underway to determine which data was exposed and the exact number of victims. The Finance Ministry said that affected users will receive a personal notification detailing the data that may have been viewed or extracted, as well as precautionary measures. In addition, outages were reported on the websites of La Poste, the delivery service Colissimo, and Digiposte, with some package tracking sites down. According to Downdetector, the sites have been unavailable since 6:00 AM. Affected financial institutions include La Banque Postale, Caisse d'Épargne, and Banque Populaire.