ZeroBytes: second suspect in French tax hack placed under judicial supervision
A sixteen-year-old was formally placed under investigation in Paris on 28 October over the French tax authority hack. Prosecutors confirmed to AFP that he was placed under judicial supervision. The authority says data concerning 678,000 individuals and businesses were accessed or stolen.
The boy was fifteen at the time of the alleged offences. He is suspected of organised data theft from a state system and unauthorised access. According to Le Monde he used the name Casquette. Investigators are examining ZeroBytes, which claimed the attack in August. An eighteen-year-old suspect is already in pretrial detention.
The DGFiP tax authority previously confirmed that stolen credentials belonging to an employee and an authorised third party were used in June and July. Accessed or extracted information included tax income details, household composition, withholding rates and business data. Property records were also accessed. Taxpayers’ user accounts and passwords were not compromised, according to the authority.
France’s Ofac cybercrime office is investigating. The sixteen-year-old had previously been questioned and released; investigators examined his devices before arresting him again.
