French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said Wednesday that a certain number of important files may have been accessed by hackers during a cyberattack targeting the ministry last week.

Speaking to the broadcaster Franceinfo, Nunez said the ministry became the target of a malicious intrusion a few days ago, adding that a judicial investigation is underway to identify the perpetrator of this cyberattack, which targeted the ministry's email servers.

Nunez confirmed that the Criminal Records Processing System and the Wanted Persons File were among the databases accessed, describing the cyberattack as "a serious act."

The minister said that the extent of the compromises remains unknown, noting a few dozen extractions of confidential files, but not millions of data records.