Security
France’s tax breach exposes data on 678,000 people
France says attackers stole tax, business and cadastral data linked to 678,000 people and companies, while account credentials were not exposed.
France’s Ministry of the Economy and Finance says attackers accessed tax authority systems and extracted data linked to 678,000 individuals and businesses. BleepingComputer reports that the breach was disclosed after a threat actor using the handle ZeroBytes claimed responsibility and offered a stolen database for sale on the PwnForums hacking forum on August 12, 2026.
The compromised information includes tax and business records. For individuals, that may include reference tax income, family quotient and withholding tax rate. Business records may contain company names and SIREN numbers. Attackers also accessed cadastral information, including property addresses and sizes.
“The in-depth investigations conducted since August 12, 2026, have established that, prior to their interruption, these access points had been used to consult and extract data concerning a total of 678,000 individuals and professionals, including tax data such as reference tax income, family quotient, and withholding tax rate, and, for businesses, data such as their company name and SIREN number.”
— French Ministry of the Economy and Finance
The ministry said online accounts were not compromised, and that user IDs and passwords were not exposed. After identifying the intrusion, France’s tax administration shut down access to sensitive information systems and began an investigation with the National Cybersecurity Agency of France, or ANSSI. The Directorate General of Public Finances also notified France’s data protection authority, CNIL.
The attackers separately claimed access to the Serveur Professionnel de Données Cadastrales (SPDC), a tax authority platform providing access to the country’s central land registry and property ownership records. ZeroBytes claimed the portal exposed data on roughly 20 million French citizens, but said they extracted only 252,149 records containing information on more than 2 million people.
That claim has not been presented by the ministry as a confirmed total. The threat actor said the extraction was incomplete because scraping the portal would have taken months and claimed to still have access to the system.
The French Finance Ministry said it would contact affected individuals and businesses by email or letter with details about the data that may have been accessed or stolen, along with recommended precautions.
The incident follows several major breaches involving French public agencies. In January 2026, France’s data protection authority fined the national employment agency France Travail €5 million after hackers stole information on 43 million people. One month later, the Finance Ministry disclosed a separate breach affecting more than 1.2 million user accounts after attackers stole data from the national bank account registry, FICOBA. France Titres also disclosed a breach involving a database of 19 million records allegedly stolen from the National Agency for Secure Documents, or ANTS.