Hackers steal tax data of 678,000 people in France
PARIS: Hackers have stolen the details of the revenues of hundreds of thousands of individuals and companies from French tax and land registry computers, authorities admitted Friday.
Two separate hacking incidents have resulted in the theft of the financial data of hundreds of thousands of individuals and companies in France, authorities announced on Friday. The General Direction of Public Finance (DGFiP) disclosed that the first cyber-attack occurred in June, targeting the computer systems of the tax and land registry agencies.
This initial breach saw the theft of information related to at least 678,000 individuals and professional accounts, including names, income data, and tax rates paid. The second attack, which took place in July, targeted 200,000 land registry accounts, involving around two million people who own land and property. The hacking group responsible for both incidents, known as Zerobytes, claimed the attacks on a dark-web forum.
Zerobytes has been linked to previous cyber-attacks on French government computers. The cybercriminals reportedly gained access to a VPN used by tax officials. According to cybersecurity experts, France is frequently targeted by cybercriminals. In April, the ANTS agency, responsible for handling identity document applications, experienced a major cyber-attack that compromised the data of nearly 12 million individuals and professionals.
Earlier in February, the finance ministry reported a significant breach in its computer system, leading to the theft of details from 1.2 million bank accounts.
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