Cyberattack leaves thousands of Belgian entrepreneurs waiting for VAT numbers
A cyberattack on Belgium’s federal finance ministry has left thousands of new VAT-number applications waiting, preventing many entrepreneurs from starting work, according to a report by De Tijd.
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Thousands of Belgian entrepreneurs are unable to begin operating because a cyberattack on the federal finance ministry has disrupted online activation of new VAT numbers, according to a report by the newspaper De Tijd cited by ANP and Belga.
The attack affected the ministry’s digital services last Wednesday. New VAT numbers, needed to issue invoices and make business purchases, have been impossible to activate online for about a week and a half, the report says. A manual procedure allows applications to be sent by email, but it is slow, leaving thousands of applications waiting, most of them from people starting businesses.
Belgium’s tax service has restored access to other online portals. There are no indications that data was stolen, according to the report.
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