The ransomware attack on Xplain (and the federal government) continues to worry advocates

Documents from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office from the criminal investigation into data leaks at IT service provider Xplain may not be passed on to the law firm designated for the administrative investigation. The appeals chamber of the Federal Criminal Court decided this.

Cybercriminals hacked the company Xplain, based in Interlaken BE, in the spring of 2023 and stole large amounts of data from a company server, as Watson made public. As a result, data from the Federal Police Office (Fedpol) and the Federal Office for Customs and Border Protection (BAZG), among others, were made accessible on the darknet. Namely on the leak site of the Russian-speaking ransomware gang Play, which repeatedly struck in Switzerland.

Can’t access files

In October 2023, Xplain filed a complaint against an order from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (BA), according to which the Geneva law firm should have access to all information and findings from the criminal investigation. The Federal Criminal Court approved this complaint in a December decision published on Friday.

The Federal Council ordered an administrative investigation in August, and the Federal Ministry of Finance (FDF) instructed the law firm to do so. The Appeals Board comes to the conclusion that there is no administrative procedure that ends with an order.

Instead, the instructing law firm may only provide instructions in the context of its mandate, and its investigation is emphatically not directed against specific individuals. Ultimately, the law firm will submit a report that has no direct legal effect. Due to the legal basis, inspection of the files is not permitted.

Contrary to its opinion, the BA cannot control the way the law firm uses the documents. The management of the administrative investigation is not in their hands and the BA has no authority to prevent or postpone interviews.

Sources

(dsc/sda)