Cyberattack forces Belgium's finance ministry to take MyMinfin offline and extend deadlines

Belgium's Federal Public Service Finance (FOD Financiën) suffered a cyberattack and, as a precaution, took offline MyMinfin, its taxpayer portal, and other digital services, according to a statement from the agency cited on Wednesday, 28 October, by Flemish public broadcaster VRT and the specialist outlet ITdaily.

While the services remain offline, tax returns cannot be viewed or filed, according to VRT. The agency explained that the measure is intended to limit risks and allow the technical interventions needed to protect its systems, and that its departments are assessing the specific impact of the attack.

The deadline for filing returns with specific income was due to end on 31 October, according to ITdaily. The finance service acknowledges that the incident affects upcoming tax deadlines and has announced a “sufficient” extension for those returns; the new date will be announced as soon as possible, according to both outlets.

According to the statement, there are so far no signs of data leakage or theft, although that question is still being examined. The type of attack, its perpetrator and when the services will be back up have not been disclosed.