The Belgium Interior Ministry was hit by a ‘sophisticated’ cyber-espionage attack, reported by a spokesperson to RTBF public television.
- A sophisticated cyberattack hits Belgium Interior Ministry.
- The attack took place in 2019.
- Belgian authorities have launched an investigation into the attack.
The Belgium Interior Ministry was hit by a ‘sophisticated’ cyber-espionage attack, reported by a spokesperson to RTBF public television.
Oliver Maerens, the Federal Public Service Interior’s communications director, confirmed that the hackers could not breach the minister's server; this indicates that threat actors did not steal any data. The attack took place in 2019 but was discovered in March.
Belgian authorities launched an investigation into the attack, and the experts believe that nation-state actors could have been involved in the attack.
“This is a very complex attack, for which hackers have resorted to techniques specifically designed to infiltrate a network undetected and to remain there as long as possible,” said Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB).
“The complexity of this attack indicates that this is an advanced and proficient attacker with extensive cyber capabilities, probably used for espionage purposes.”
The FPS Interior hosts databases related to the country’s police services, immigration affairs, the organisations of the elections and the distribution of identity cards, marked Belgian news outfit VRT NEWS.
FPS Interior said that their systems have been cleaned and that vital information has been secured and that they have begun a complete modernisation of their IT infrastructure “with a view to optimising security as much as possible.”
EU leaders had a meeting in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday, during which they discussed the risks associated by nation-state actors against member states.
“The level of Russian interference both with spies and with web manipulation has become truly alarming,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi told a news conference. “We have to boost our protection, notably in terms of cybersecurity. We have to do everything, both at a national and EU level.”
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