French Interior Minister Laurent Nunes said on Wednesday that a cyberattack on the ministry last week allowed hackers to access dozens of confidential files, including sensitive law enforcement databases.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunes said on Wednesday that a cyberattack on the ministry last week allowed hackers to access dozens of confidential files, including sensitive law enforcement databases.
In an interview with Franceinfo, Nunez said that the ministry was the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of "several dozen" files, including records from the criminal case processing system and a wanted persons file.
"These are files that are very important to us. We don't know yet how serious the breach is. To date, a few dozen files have been removed from the system, but we are talking about millions of data," Nunez said, adding that authorities are still assessing the full scope of the breach.
He described the incident as a "serious act," stressing that an investigation is ongoing to determine exactly what information was accessed and what information was stolen.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed that the attack on the night of December 11-12 disrupted the work of its professional postal services.
In a statement to BFMTV, the ministry said that the analysis revealed an intrusion into professional email accounts containing identifying information, the acquisition of which allowed access to business applications.
Later, a message appeared on the hacking portal BreachForums that the attack was caused as an act of revenge for the arrests of members of the ShinnyHunters cyber group, who were involved in the attack on PornHub . The hackers said that they had gained access to 16.4 million pieces of data, including pension records, car license plates and tax information of French citizens.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday evening, the Paris prosecutor announced that a 22-year-old man had been arrested as part of the investigation.
According to reports, the suspect, born in 2003, is already known to the judiciary, as he was convicted of similar crimes in 2025.
The investigation was launched by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor's office, specifically on charges of "attacking a state automated personal data processing system as part of an organized group."
Security services are continuing the technical investigation, and measures have been taken to strengthen protection and limit further risks.
