The profile of the 18-year-old placed in pretrial detention after the hacking of the French Public Finances Directorate General is striking. Already indicted in two other cybercrime cases, he is notably implicated in the investigation into the massive data breach that affected Free. The young man, known by the pseudonym "ChatNoir," is also suspected of having participated in the hacking of the BFMTV and RMC X accounts in 2024.
In the Free case, nearly 19,2 million customers were affected by the massive data breach. The suspect was 16 years old at the time of some of the alleged offenses. He was also identified as a member of the "Epsilon" hacker collective, a group whose name appears in several investigations. His alleged legal history has therefore taken on a new dimension with the investigations conducted after the attack on the tax authorities.
Two suspects, several ongoing investigations
The second suspect arrested in the DGFiP case also has a very young profile. Under 16 years old, he is known by the pseudonym "Casquette" and is also believed to have been linked to the "Epsilon" collective in 2024. After being held in custody in the investigation into the attacks attributed to "ZeroBytes," he was released pending the analysis of his computer equipment. He was ultimately questioned again before being formally charged on Friday in the "Epsilon" case. The alleged offenses date back to a time when he was not yet 14 years old.
The two teenagers are now at the center of investigations into several cyberattacks claimed this summer by "ZeroBytes." The 18-year-old is suspected of involvement in the attacks targeting the French tax authority (DGFiP), which resulted in the theft of data concerning at least 678.000 individuals and businesses. He has been placed in pretrial detention while the investigation continues under the direction of an investigating judge.
This series of cases primarily illustrates the difficulty investigators face in tracking the profiles of particularly young hackers who are already likely to appear in several separate cases. It is important to remember, however, that indictments do not constitute declarations of guilt. The investigations will need to precisely determine the role played by each individual in the various attacks and establish any potential links between the groups mentioned in the investigations.
