Leaked Federal Records: Data Protection Officer Expands Investigation into Xplain

The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (EDÖB) is expanding an ongoing investigation into IT company Xplain. He has been investigating at the federal police and the customs and border security services since the end of June.

The background is the publication of stolen data on the Darknet. Watson had made public the cyber attack on the government software developer and the associated blackmail from the ransomware gang Play.

Hooligan data on the dark web

His investigation is the result of data security breaches, as the Edöb announced on Friday. After the investigation opened against the two federal agencies, he received further information about the incidents, prompting him to expand the investigation to Xplain. The data protection authority does not provide any further information about the ongoing procedures.

An excerpt from the 2015 hooligan database has recently surfaced on the dark web. Cybercriminals captured the relevant data during a hacker attack on Bern-based IT company Xplain, whose clients include numerous federal and cantonal institutions.

According to a statement issued on Wednesday, the Federal Police Service (Fedpol) is currently notifying the 766 affected people. It is unclear how the data ended up with Xplain and why it was not removed in time. Report was filed in June.

(dsc/sda)

The hacker attack and its consequences