Belgium's Federal Public Service Finance has temporarily closed the country's online tax portal after a cyberattack struck its digital services on Wednesday, forcing officials to take several systems offline as a precaution. The agency confirmed the attack on 28 October and said the shutdown was designed to limit risk while technical teams worked to secure its systems. A large portion of its other applications remain available, the agency said, with full or only partial functionality in many cases.

Deadlines extended as services are secured

Tax-filing deadlines will be extended because of the disruption, although the agency has not yet announced a specific new date. Officials said a revised date would follow as soon as possible, a move that will come as a relief to taxpayers and accountants who rely on the portal for routine filings. The precautionary approach reflects a familiar dilemma for public bodies under attack: keep services running and risk further intrusion, or pull them offline and accept short-term disruption. Belgium has chosen the second course, at least for the affected services, while investigators establish how the attackers gained access and whether any wider systems were touched.

No data theft reported so far

Crucially, the agency said there were no indications so far of a data breach or that any data had been stolen. That assessment remains provisional, with the matter under close investigation, and officials have not yet described the type of attack or attributed it to any group. For citizens, the message is to watch for an updated filing deadline and use only official channels while the portal remains closed. The incident is a reminder that even core government services can be forced offline within hours when defenders judge that containment matters more than continuity.

Sources: Reuters, Reuters via syndication.