Insee cyberattack: 12,800 employees and former employees affected

Two months after the Agence nationale des titres sécurisés (ANTS), the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (Insee) has been hit by a cyberattack. Insee announced the incident on Friday, explaining that the breach took place on 19 June and urging people to exercise the utmost caution. The data breach affects its directory of current and former employees.

Insee was hacked, it emerged on Friday 26 June. The intrusion into its files occurred on the previous Friday, 19 June, and the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques disclosed it on that day. It warned those whose contact details may have been affected by the data breach to be particularly vigilant about possible email communications.

Insee cyberattack affects 12,800 current and former employees

The public body is responsible for measuring, analysing and informing French society, notably through its calculations of inflation, labour market data and the population census. The hack it suffered in June concerns its list of employees and former employees, representing around 12,800 people. It may also include civil servants connected with Insee.

The stolen material is said to involve these contacts’ work details rather than their personal information. Unfortunately, an address may be used for both purposes, although civil servants generally use a dedicated address for all work-related correspondence. Passwords, personal contact details, bank details and social security numbers are therefore not believed to be affected.

Be alert to fraudulent emails claiming to be from Insee

In its statement, Insee nevertheless called for extra vigilance in relation to potential future communication campaigns. The institute stressed that, if a message appears to come from an Insee employee, it will never ask recipients to pay for registration or provide bank details or a password.

This is indeed one of the risks arising from the cyberattack: employees’ email addresses could be copied, enabling malicious individuals to impersonate professionals and demand that people complete a particular administrative procedure, such as registering in a directory. Caution is also advised with electronic messages sent in connection with a national survey.

ANTS, Jeveuxaider(.)fr and Tchap: public services hacked in 2026

A number of public services have been affected by cyberattacks in recent weeks. At the end of April, the French administration had already faced a major data leak involving ANTS, the Agence nationale des titres sécurisés, which issues important documents such as driving licences and identity cards. The incident affected 19 million French people. A few days ago, 550,000 accounts on jeveuxaider(.)fr, the platform dedicated to volunteering and associations, also fell into the hands of malicious actors. Tchap, the messaging service used by public-sector employees, has also attracted attention.