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🇫🇷 France /Crime & Justice

French Tax Authority Admits Major Data Breach Affecting 678,000 Taxpayers

From Libération · () French

Translated from French, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • France's tax authority (DGFIP) acknowledged a data breach affecting 678,000 taxpayers, including individuals and businesses, which occurred in late June but was only revealed two months later.
  • The hack has sparked political debate, with one presidential candidate criticizing France's vulnerability to cyberattacks and senators calling for a parliamentary inquiry.
  • The DGFIP apologized for the breach, describing the attack as more sophisticated than previous ones, following similar incidents at ANTS and INSEE earlier in the year.

France's tax authority has admitted to a significant data breach impacting 678,000 taxpayers, a revelation that has ignited political debate and exposed perceived security lapses. The breach, which occurred in late June, involved sensitive data from both individuals and businesses, but was only publicly acknowledged by the Direction générale des finances publiques (DGFIP) two months later.

The incident has drawn sharp criticism. Bruno Retailleau, a presidential candidate for Les Républicains, highlighted France's vulnerability, stating it is the "second most targeted country in the world by cyberattacks." Meanwhile, socialist senators have demanded a parliamentary inquiry into the matter.

France is the second most targeted country in the world by cyberattacks.

— Bruno RetailleauA presidential candidate criticizing France's vulnerability to cyberattacks.

The DGFIP has issued an apology to affected taxpayers, characterizing the attack as more sophisticated than those encountered previously. This latest incident follows similar data breaches at the ANTS (the agency for identity documents) in April and INSEE (the national statistics institute) in June, raising further concerns about the security of French public administration data.

We apologize to taxpayers exposed.

— DGFIPThe tax authority's acknowledgment of the data breach.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Libération in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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