Zweindrecht

History

2022: All city police data stolen by hackers after ransomware attack

In early December 2022, Ragnar Locker hackers published stolen data on their website that they thought belonged to the municipality of the Dutch city of Zweindrecht. But in fact, the published information belonged to the Zweindrecht police.

The Belgian media called this data leak one of the largest revelations of public services in the history of the country, since all police data was stolen. Thus, the information could affect law enforcement operations and investigations, endangering witnesses and alerting suspects.

All police data from Dutch city stolen by hackers after ransomware attack

A double ransom extortion gang has posted stolen information on its "name and shame" data breach website on a dark web. The data breach includes sensitive information such as investigative reports, criminal records, thousands of license plates, traffic fines, employees' personal files, phone research and crime files including child abuse images. The information also revealed traffic camera footage that could reveal people's whereabouts at certain times, thereby violating their privacy and compromising their safety.

Other sensitive data leaked include names, phone numbers, subscriber metadata and SMS messages of people under secret police investigation. This information can warn suspects about ongoing investigations, which will allow them to destroy evidence and eliminate potential witnesses.

The Ragnar Locker gang revealed 18 years of data collected by the Belgian police unit from 2006 to September 2022, according to Belgian local media. Even though the leak has affected a small unit of Belgian police, it could affect thousands of citizens.

Organizations that store sensitive data need robust cyber protection to protect their activities and human lives, Pinson-Roxburgh said. Otherwise, life-threatening situations can arise, which will undermine public confidence in such organizations. Zviindrecht's police unit in Antwerp, Belgium, downplayed the incident, blaming it on the human factor. Meanwhile, a Belgian police unit began notifying those affected by the data breach and launched an investigation into the hacking incident.

Zweindrecht's police chief confirmed Ragnar Locker hackers had demanded a ransom to keep the data breach secret, but the local police unit rejected the claim. However, the executive did not give the amount the gang was demanding as a ransom.^[1]

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