French taxpayers’ data stolen in cyber attack

Business Recorder reported that French authorities have acknowledged a theft of revenue records covering several hundred thousand people and firms held by the tax and land registry systems. The General Direction of Public Finance said two separate intrusions took place in June and July. The June breach reportedly exposed records covering at least 678,000 individuals and business accounts, including names, reference income figures and the tax rates paid.

The second intrusion, in July, reportedly involved details of 200,000 land registry accounts. A group calling itself Zerobytes had earlier claimed the attacks and said it held information on 250,000 land registry accounts linked to around two million property owners. The group, which has been tied in the past to attacks on French state computers, also said it had access to a virtual private network used by tax officials.

Experts quoted in the article rank France among the nations hit hardest by cybercriminals. The article also noted an April assault on the ANTS agency, which processes identity document requests, that exposed information tied to close to 12 million people and professionals. In February, the finance ministry said a large-scale breach exposed details of 1.2 million bank accounts.