The entrance to the Ministry of Justice in Paris, September 2023. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
The incident, in which one or more hackers managed to access several confidential police files, marks a first on many levels. Here is an overview of the main questions that have emerged.
What was hacked?
The full scope remains unclear, but Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed on Wednesday, December 17, that at least "several dozen files" from confidential police databases were extracted from ministry servers by hackers. At least two important police databases were affected: the judicial records system (TAJ), which contains about 17 million records on perpetrators and victims of crimes or offenses, as well as the highly sensitive wanted persons file (FPR).
"I remain cautious. The investigation is ongoing," Nuñez said, not ruling out the possibility that larger volumes of data may have been stolen. "There has not been an extraction of millions of records," he said. "But I remain very cautious about the extent of the compromise."
