Cyber Alert 2026: 43 Million French Accounts Hacked!

Despite efforts, France continues to struggle with an escalating number of data breaches. From January to June 2026, a staggering 43.4 million accounts were compromised within the nation, positioning it as the most affected European country in the first half of the year, according to a recent study by Surfshark. Globally, France ranks second, only behind the United States, which saw 90.8 million accounts hacked, and ahead of Brazil with 10.3 million. “In total, nearly three French accounts were compromised every second during the first six months of the year,” warns the cybersecurity firm.

A 62.3% Increase in Compromised Accounts Compared to the Previous Semester

There was a slight decrease in the number of hacked accounts from the first to the second quarter (23 million in Q1 to 19 million in Q2), yet this drop is not comforting: the figures remain much higher than the previous year. Surfshark points out an increase of 62.3% compared to the second semester of 2025. The shift in focus towards easier targets, such as public and governmental institutions, which often lack robust defenses, is to blame, according to Tomas Stamulis, chief security officer at Surfshark. Notable breaches during this period included the hacking of the National Agency for Secure Documents (ANTS) and software used by over 240,000 national education agents.

“Stolen data doesn’t just vanish over time. Information taken years ago can resurface in new scams, be used to take over accounts, impersonate someone, or commit financial fraud,” explains Tomas Stamulis.

France also inherits a regrettable status as the country with the highest density of compromised accounts per capita, ahead of Poland, the USA, Portugal, and Lithuania. The nation alone accounted for the majority of the continent’s leaks, which overall surpassed North America in the number of compromised accounts over the semester. “58% of the compromised accounts in Europe were linked to French users,” Surfshark details.

France Continues as the Fourth Most Affected Country Since 2004

According to Surfshark, France has consistently been among the nations most vulnerable to data breaches. The figures are indeed staggering: since 2004, 758.6 million accounts have been compromised in France, including 212.9 million unique email addresses. “A single French email address has been compromised on average 3.6 times,” the firm notes. Overall, more than 2.2 billion pieces of personal data and 486.5 million passwords have been exposed during this period. On average, each French citizen has been affected by 11 data breaches since 2004.