French Tax Agency Hack Exposes 678,000 Users

A hacker gained access to data belonging to 678,000 users of the French tax administration in a cyberattack, the French Finance Ministry said. The breach came to light on Wednesday after the attacker claimed to have broken into the General Directorate of Public Finances in late June.

An investigation confirmed that the attacker accessed taxpayer data and extracted some of it. The breach affected information relating to both individuals and professionals, although the exact nature and extent of the data exposed remains unclear.

The ministry initially said it was working to determine how many taxpayers had been affected before confirming the figure of 678,000 on Friday.

French authorities plan to notify each affected user individually, detailing which information may have been accessed or extracted and advising them of any precautionary measures they should take.

(Reuters)