Headlines
Suspect arrested after earlier cyberattack on French interior ministry
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 17, 2025
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 17, 2025
PARIS, Dec 17 (Reuters) - A 22-year old man has been arrested after an earlier cyberattack on the French Interior Ministry's Email servers, which affected more than 20 files including those with criminal records.
The French prosecutor's department said on Wednesday that the person arrested was already on police records after having been convicted of similar crimes this year. It said the suspect was born in 2003 but the prosecutor did not name the individual.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had said earlier on Wednesday that last week's attack was more serious than initially thought.
"It's serious," he told Franceinfo radio on Wednesday.
"A few days ago, I said that we didn't know whether there had been any compromises or not. Now we know that there have been compromises, but we don't know the extent of them."
The compromised files included criminal records.
Nunez said a judicial probe and administrative investigation were underway, and the National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties (CNIL) had been notified.
"I can tell you that there have not been millions of pieces of data extracted as of this morning (...), but I remain very cautious about the level of compromise," he added.
(Reporting by Louise Breusch RasmussenEditing by Dominique Vidalon/Sudip Kar-Gupta/Frances Kerry)
A cyberattack is an attempt to damage, disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to computer systems, networks, or devices, often with malicious intent.
Data protection refers to the practices and processes that safeguard personal data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, or destruction.
Financial crime encompasses a range of illegal activities that involve the theft or misuse of funds, including fraud, money laundering, and cybercrime.
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