France is currently the second most affected country in the world by data breaches.

Omissions

• The claim does not specify the metric used (number of breached accounts), which comes from Surfshark, a private cybersecurity company — not an official government or EU statistical body.
• The ranking reflects absolute numbers of breached accounts, not a per-capita rate. On a per-capita basis, smaller countries could rank higher.
• The claim omits the source (Surfshark) and does not acknowledge that different methodologies (e.g., IBM, Verizon DBIR) might produce different country rankings.
• The MEP could not have cited the studiodahu.ch article, published in 2026, but the underlying Surfshark data it references covers Q1 and H1 2026, which was available before the session date.

Sources

• PrimarySurfshark Data Breach Monitoring — Quarterly AnalysisCountries most affected by breaches each quarter: US — 29,841,665; France — 19,663,683; Poland — 5,780,518; Brazil — 5,745,362; UK — 2,528,222. France ranks second globally behind the United States.
• SecondaryStudio Dahu — Data Breaches: Countries Most Affected in 2026Globally, France claims second place in this sad ranking, appearing as the European dunce. Despite the implementation of the GDPR and strict regulations, the country remains one of the main targets of cybercriminals.
• SecondaryAnadolu Agency — France remains Europe's most affected country by data breachesThe new study by cybersecurity company Surfshark found that 43.4 million French accounts were compromised during the first half of 2026, making France Europe's most affected country.