French anti-corruption group files complaint over tax data hack

The French anti-corruption association Anticor announced on Thursday, August 27, that it has filed a complaint after the massive hack of tax data revealed in mid-August. The association aims to investigate whether pirates could have corrupted an agent or authorized person, or benefited from internal complicity.

The complaint, filed with the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF), targets several offenses including fraudulent data extraction, corruption, and violation of fiscal secrecy. "This is not about blaming the tax administration, but about investigating the potential existence of an individual act of corruption committed within or near it for the benefit of the cyberattack perpetrators," the association stated in its complaint.

Anticor also wants the justice system to examine the use of funds allocated in recent years to "the maintenance, modernization, and security of the DGFiP's information system," and how its management was partly entrusted to the private sector. The group's president, Marcel Claude, demanded that "all light be shed on the origin of the intrusions, their potential complicity, and the destination of the stolen data." He also called for a postponement of the e-invoicing reform until concrete cybersecurity guarantees are provided by the tax administration.

The theft, which occurred at the end of June and July and was claimed by the hacker group Zerobytes, affects at least 678,000 individuals and professionals, according to the Directorate General of Public Finances (DGFiP). The DGFiP has launched a campaign to contact victims and raise awareness about phishing and identity theft risks, and the government has apologized to taxpayers. The Paris prosecutor's office had opened an investigation in mid-August, citing fraudulent data extraction and criminal association among other charges.