Teenage hacker charged over cyberattack on French tax authority
Nobody escapes the taxman, not even hackers.
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- French police arrested an 18-year-old suspected of hacking France’s tax authority and stealing data from 678,000 taxpayers.
- The suspect, known online as ChatNoir, allegedly belongs to the ZeroBytes hacking group.
- Stolen data included names, birth dates, contact details, income information, and tax and property records.
- ZeroBytes claimed a larger breach affecting over two million people, but officials have not confirmed that number.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
French law enforcement officers have arrested an 18-year-old suspected of hacking France’s tax authority and stealing sensitive information of 678,000 taxpayers.
France’s Anti-Cybercrime Office (OFAC) arrested the young man on August 18th, only a few days after a devastating cyberattack on the tax authority.
Supposedly, the teenager is a member of ZeroBytes, the hacking group that claimed responsibility for numerous cyberattacks on French government services.
The suspect, who uses the moniker “ChatNoir” online, was formally placed under investigation on August 20th.
He has been charged with “fraudulent access and maintenance in an automated processing system of personal data in an organized gang” and “fraudulent extraction of data contained in an automated processing system of personal data implemented by the state.”
The teen had already been placed under arrest in connection with 2 other cyberattacks he committed while he was a minor. He was under judicial supervision when police officers arrested him last month.
French law enforcement authorities arrested a second suspect, a 16-year-old teenager, on August 26th. However, he was released after questioning. His computer, though, was confiscated and retained by the police for examination.
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A few weeks ago, the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP), France’s tax authority, confirmed that a hacker breached its systems and stole personal and sensitive information belonging to 678,000 individuals.
The stolen data included names, dates of birth, postal addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and tax-related data, such as income and cadastral information.
ZeroBytes posted breach claims on PwnForums, an online cybercrime forum, claiming to have extracted 252,149 lines of information, corresponding to 2,041,778 people.
These numbers haven’t officially been confirmed by the DGFiP.
