Hackers access classified French police information
Interior Minister calls data breach unprecedented for France
A 22-year old has been arrested in relation to the breach
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Important police files were recently accessed by hackers, France’s Interior Ministry has confirmed.
The full extent of the data breach is not yet known but Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said it mainly relates to files held on France’s wanted persons list and criminal processing records.
He called the breach “unprecedented for France.”
Hackers had access to the so-called CHEOPS portal, which deals with classified police records, for several weeks before the breach was identified.
Information on around 16.4 million people is reported to be contained in the files. Email accounts and contact information of police investigators dealing with cases may have been accessed.
The Interior Ministry is responsible for issuing official documents including residency cards and passports but there is no indication that files related to these have been accessed.
The breach “does not endanger the lives of [people in France],” Mr Nuñez told public service media Franceinfo.
Sensitive data shared through messaging apps
It is the latest in a string of attacks on public institutions in France including social charges body URSSAF.
The ministry was made aware of "suspicious activity” on its servers, the minister said, leading to enhanced security measures – but these came too late.
He took aim at certain employees for “imprudence,” saying passwords and sensitive data had been shared through messaging apps – with this information ultimately used to infiltrate the portal.
A hacking website known as ‘BreachForums’ claimed responsibility for the attack, and threatened to release the files if the ministry did not agree to its demands within 48 hours (it is not known what these were but there were reportedly no demands for money).
Following the deadline, the information was made available to buy through the dark web, with the website placing a message on its frontpage reading “Now you will pay for what you did to our friends.”
A 22-year-old from Limoges (Haute-Vienne) has now been arrested in relation to the breach. The man, who lives at home with his mother, is known to police and was sentenced for a similar offence in 2025.
France’s commission for civil liberties and technology (CNIL) has been informed of the breach as is required in all such attacks.
