Tax hacking: a second suspect, aged 16, indicted after the summer cyberattack

A second suspect, aged 16, was indicted in Paris as part of the investigation into tax hacking, the prosecutor's office said on Thursday, requested by AFP. This young man, who was 15 years old at the time of the events, was placed under judicial supervision, he said, confirming information from the newspaper Le Monde.

This young man, who was 15 years old at the time of the events, was placed under judicial supervision, said the public prosecutor, confirming information from the newspaper Le Monde, which indicates that he was acting under the pseudonym “Casquette”. The teenager was indicted for “fraudulent extraction of data contained in an automated personal data processing system implemented by the State, in an organized group” and “fraudulent access and maintenance” in this same system.

He is suspected of being a member of the “ZeroBytes” computer hacker group, which presents itself as a duo and which claimed responsibility for the hacking of the tax authorities in mid-August, which occurred at the end of June and the end of July. An 18-year-old man, suspected of also being a member of “ZeroBytes” and of having participated in the attacks against the tax authorities, had already been indicted at the beginning of September. This man, acting under the pseudonym “ChatNoir” according to Le Monde, was placed in pre-trial detention.

A major data theft

The other suspect had already been arrested and taken into police custody before being released, according to information communicated by the prosecution in September. Investigators had to exploit his computer equipment. Le Monde indicates that his custody was linked to an older hacking case relating to the Epsilon hacker group, which would therefore be the ancestor of ZeroBytes.

The hacking of the tax authorities led to the theft of data, some of it sensitive, of at least 678,000 individuals and professionals, according to the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP). The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation upon "receipt of the first complaints", on July 31, and therefore before the attack was claimed. The investigation is being carried out by the Anti-Cybercrime Office (Ofac).

Among the victims of “Zerobytes”, the Paris prosecutor's office also cited the National Education services (Academy of Créteil, Agency for French Education Abroad), France Travail, the French Handball Federation, the distributor Intermarché and the telecoms group SFR.