Two suspects arrested in investigation into ZeroBytes cyberattacks this summer

Two suspects were arrested as part of investigations opened after several computer attacks this summer, including one which notably targeted the general directorate of public finances (DGFiP), franceinfo learned on Friday September 4 from reliable sources.

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Requested by franceinfo, the Paris prosecutor's office specified that on August 20, a man suspected of being one of the perpetrators of the computer attacks was indicted and placed in pre-trial detention. A second suspect was arrested on August 26, then released after his custody, with a view to the exploitation of his equipment by the investigation services.

The first suspect, aged 18, was arrested on August 18. He lives in the Paris region. He is suspected of being part of the “ZeroBytes” group and of being one of the authors of the cyberattacks targeting the DGFiP. The Paris prosecutor's office specifies that he is already known to the police and that he had been indicted successively in June 2024, then in January 2025, in two cases of computer attacks committed in 2023 and 2024, while he was a minor. He was placed under judicial supervision in these two cases.

A minor implicated

Concerning the cyberattack on the tax authorities this summer, the suspect was indicted in particular for "fraudulent access and maintenance in an automated processing system of personal data (STAD) of an organized gang", "fraudulent modification, extraction, transmission, reproduction and possession of data contained in a STAD of a personal nature in an organized gang", or even "participation in a criminal association with a view to the preparation of an offense punishable by 10 years of imprisonment".

As for the second suspect involved, he is a minor under 16 years old. The latter was released at the end of his police custody, with a view to the exploitation of his material by the investigation services.

An investigating judge continues the investigation

The Paris prosecutor's office recalls that "from July 16, a group of hackers calling themselves 'ZeroBytes' had claimed responsibility for several computer attacks on a darkweb site committed against state sites and business sites." The public prosecutor indicates that "upon receipt of the first complaints on July 31, an investigation was opened by the cybercrime section of the Paris prosecutor's office and entrusted to the anti-cybercrime office (Ofac)". Investigations are now continuing under the direction of an investigating judge to identify and arrest the other people involved.

In addition to the tax authorities, the hacker group also claimed in mid-August to have “absorbed” millions of data from National Education. Students, parents, teachers, administrative staff are affected by this data theft, ZeroBytes indicated at the time. The Paris prosecutor's office recalls that "among the victims of ZeroBytes' cyberattacks", we also find "France Travail, the French Handball Federation, Intermarché, SFR, Bureau Vallée and even Pulsy".