Federal operational data may have been hijacked by hackers

In the hacker attack on the Swiss IT company Xplain that was made public by Watson on May 23, the perpetrators also allegedly stole operational data from the federal government. Appropriate investigations are underway.

The Federal Public Service Finance announced on Thursday that, contrary to the initial findings, after an in-depth investigation, it must be assumed that operational data can also be compromised. “In the current state of knowledge, the federal administration does not assume that the Xplain systems have direct access to the federal systems,” it read.

The National Center for Cybersecurity (NCSC) coordinates further investigations and measures within the federal government.

Data on Xplain server

Xplain is a provider of government software. Last week it was announced that hackers exploited a vulnerability on the servers of this German-Swiss company to obtain data from the Federal Police Service (Fedpol) and the Federal Customs and Border Protection Service. This data was on Xplain servers.

After the attack, relevant data appeared on the dark web, a part of the internet that can only be accessed with special software. Because the hackers are demanding a ransom from Xplain. It concerns a so-called ransomware attack in which a large amount of data is said to have been stolen. The company is now being blackmailed.

Last week it was said that Xplain had no access to Fedpol’s productive data, but only had anonymized simulation data for testing purposes. The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security also said that the data of this agency itself was not compromised.

When asked on Thursday, an NCSC spokeswoman said the hacker attack on Xplain was unrelated to the malicious attack on the Swiss parliament website that became known on Wednesday.

(dsc/sda)