France has confirmed a major cyberattack on its government tax systems that allowed an attacker to access and steal data belonging to individual taxpayers and businesses.
The security incident affected the Directorate General of Public Finances, known as DGFiP, which manages tax and public finance services in France. The unauthorized access happened in late June 2026 and was discovered during security checks.
According to the French government, the attacker gained access after an identity theft incident. The unauthorized access was eventually blocked, but investigators found that the attacker had already been able to view and extract taxpayer information from the system.
The incident became public in August after a malicious actor claimed responsibility for accessing the tax authority’s systems. French authorities then confirmed that the attack had taken place and introduced additional restrictions to prevent further unauthorized access.
The exact size of the breach is still being investigated. Reports connected to the attacker have suggested that data involving close to 700,000 taxpayer records may have been collected. However, French authorities have not confirmed an official number and are still working to determine exactly how many people and businesses were affected.
Officials have also not released a complete list of the information taken during the attack. The stolen information could include personal and tax-related data, making the incident particularly concerning because this type of information can potentially be used for phishing, fraud or identity theft.
The French government said people affected by the breach will be contacted individually. These notifications will explain what information may have been viewed or stolen and what precautions users should take.
Cybersecurity teams from the tax authority are continuing to investigate the attack with other French government security departments. France’s national cybersecurity agency is also involved in examining the incident and helping authorities understand how the attacker gained access.
The tax authority plans to report the incident to France’s data protection regulator and file a formal complaint. Additional information is expected as investigators determine the full scale of the breach.
For taxpayers, one of the biggest risks after a data breach like this is targeted phishing. Attackers can use stolen personal details to create emails, messages or phone calls that appear more convincing. People should therefore be careful with unexpected messages claiming to come from tax authorities, especially those requesting passwords, payment information or urgent account action.
The attack is another reminder of how valuable government databases have become to cybercriminals. Tax systems contain large amounts of sensitive personal and financial information, which makes strong identity controls and network security especially important.
France is now working to identify every person affected while strengthening access restrictions around its public finance systems. Until the investigation is completed, the final number of stolen records and the full range of compromised information remain unclear.
