Belgian tax agency cyberattack shows why recovery matters
MyMinfin was taken offline as a precaution after a cyberattack. The 29 October update and practical questions about website maintenance, backups and business recovery.
Omar Geerman
On 28 October 2026, Belgium’s tax authority, FPS Finance, took MyMinfin and other services offline as a precaution following a cyberattack. The disruption affected online services for taxpayers. It also raises a familiar question for business owners: what happens to your operations when an important online service becomes unavailable?Source 1
The position on 29 October
In its official update at 15:30 Belgian time on 29 October, FPS Finance said the attack had been stopped and no data had leaked. MyMinfin and several other services had been taken offline as a precaution. The authority said restarting them takes time to avoid new risks. Many other applications remained fully or partly available.Source 1
For the affected returns involving specific income, the filing deadline moved from 31 October to 16 November 2026. Check the tax authority’s current information or your accountant for your own return.Source 1Source 2
Stopping an attack and experiencing a service outage are therefore not contradictory. Restoring access is a separate step.Source 1
A working homepage is not the whole recovery
The Dutch National Cyber Security Centre describes recovery as the controlled restoration of systems, services and processes after an incident has been investigated and its cause removed. For a business, that means more than getting a homepage to load. Which operations must return first? How long can they be unavailable? How much recent data could you afford to lose? Those choices shape the recovery plan you need.Source 1
A webshop, booking system or customer portal provides a practical starting point. Discuss with your administrator what you need to test after restoration, such as an order, booking or customer enquiry. A technical message confirming that a backup was restored does not, by itself, show that the business process works again.Source 1
Four agreements to make now
Take these questions to your developer, hosting provider or IT administrator. They help turn continuity planning into practical arrangements:Source 1
- Which digital processes are essential, and which take priority during an outage?
- Who decides when to intervene, who acts, and how can everyone be reached?
- What alternative route can employees and customers use if the normal service fails?
- Who owns maintenance, security checks and backups, and where are those agreements recorded?
Write down the answers and revisit them when your systems or providers change.Source 1
Start with your own website and hosting
The Belgian disruption is a reason to review those arrangements, not evidence that your website has the same problem. A useful first question is whether someone can explain what must happen after an outage and what needs checking afterwards.Source 1Source 2
Sources
- Tweakers — Belgian tax authority takes services offline
- FPS Finance — official update on 29 October 2026 at 15:30 Belgian time
- The Brussels Times with Belga — 29 October update
- NCSC — recovering from a cyber incident
- NCSC — testing a backup
- NCSC — business continuity planning
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