Digipolis

History

2022: A hacker attack disabled the servers of electronic public services in the city of Antwerp

On December 6, 2022, it became known that the information infrastructure of the Belgian city of Antwerp was subjected to a large-scale hacker attack, due to which many services were disconnected, while others function with interruptions and large delays.

According to reports, the Play criminal group is behind the cyber attack. The attack targeted the servers of Digipolis, Antwerp's digital partner, which is responsible for various city services. A wave of disruptions swept through schools, kindergartens, police departments, medical institutions and more. E-mail and telephone services were affected. Some organizations were forced to temporarily switch to paper document management, since electronic systems are not available.

Electronic public services stopped working in Antwerp due to ransomware virus attack

Play attackers used ransomware during the attack. According to the hackers themselves, during the attack, they were able to steal almost 557 GB of data, including personal information about citizens, identity cards, passport numbers, financial documents and much more. Cybercriminals promise to publish this information on the Internet if the Antwerp administration does not pay the ransom on time. At the same time, it is not clear what amount can be discussed.

It is not known when the functionality of Antwerp's IT systems will fully recover. The city hall said that the consequences of such a large-scale hack could be felt until the end of December. Apparently, the attack will result in huge financial losses for the city. It is also said that earlier in 2022, the Ragnar Locker ransomware gang leaked files stolen from a police unit in Zweindrecht, a municipality in the province of Antwerp. Data on license plates, crime reports and investigations, as well as information about fines over the past 16 years, were stolen.^[1][2]

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