Ransomware gang Play hacks Swiss supplier of police software

Xplain AG, which specializes in government software, has been hit by a ransomware attack. The manager takes a stand.

Daniel Schurter

The Bernese software company Xplain AG has been hacked by suspected Russian cyber criminals, according to research by Watson. A similar message was published Monday evening on the ransomware gang’s leak site Play on the dark web.

Director Andreas Löwinger confirmed on request that there had been a cyber attack. Customers were informed on Tuesday.

The accompanying statement, which Watson has available, reads:

«Xplain AG has been hit by a cyber-attack by ransomware group PLAY. We immediately noticed the attack and responded quickly to minimize the impact and restore the security and availability of our production systems. We are currently working closely with external cybersecurity experts and authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident.”

Play is currently one of the most active cybercrime groups specializing in data theft and extortion. The cybercriminals do not belong in the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) provider category. This means that the hackers carry out their attacks themselves.

According to Xplain AG, no official data is affected

Those responsible are reluctant to comment on the size and seriousness of the cyber attack.

“The exact details of the attack, including the scope and severity of the data breach, are still being investigated. However, we would like to emphasize that we do not store any personal or record data from customer systems in our systems. The potentially affected data may include personal information of our employees and business documents of our company, as well as project information.”

Xplain AG has its head office in Interlaken BE, offices in Aarau, Zurich and Lausanne and international branches in Germany and Spain.

The company’s website states:

«We work for authorities and organizations with tasks in the field of security, migration, labor or economy, law enforcement and penitentiary affairs. For these governments and organisations, we offer innovative software products with full coverage of the work processes from initial recording to archiving.”

The ransomware gang Play has repeatedly attacked Swiss companies in recent months. Known victims include the media companies NZZ and CH Media (to which Watson also belongs), but also the receivership of the Valais municipality of Saxon, as well as the company Energie Pool Schweiz and the hotel chain H-Hotels.

The number of unreported cases is probably relatively high. International investigations by IT security researchers have shown that many attacks go unreported or made public. Up to two-thirds of affected organizations respond to the blackmail and pay the ransom.

Daniel Schurter

Source: Watson

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Ella

Ella

I'm Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.

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