A cyberattack targeted the GAEL platform, property of France Education International (FEI), which is used to manage DELF and DALF diplomas,
between Friday, 9 January and Monday, 12 January 2026.
The incident resulted from the compromise of at least three external accounts, which were then used by a hacker to access our DELF and DALF
diploma management platform.
Investigations are ongoing, but initial findings indicate that the hacker used valid usernames and passwords to gain access.
The attacker first consulted certain pages relating to exam sessions and registered DELF and DALF candidates, and then extracted the civil
identity data of 5.8 million candidates and graduates who have taken the exam since 2005, including title, surname, first name, birth name,
city of birth, country of birth, date of birth, nationality or nationalities, mother tongue, and first examination centre of registration.
No other data, including postal, email, telephone, or financial information, was compromised.
While the breach occurred on FEI’s infrastructure in France, Alliance Française de Sydney systems and infrastructure remain entirely
unaffected and secure.
Please find FEI updates here.
To exercise your rights with FEI, or for any questions regarding our privacy policy, you may contact the Data Protection Officer of FEI here.
