Antwerp Digital Services Affected by Cyberattack

Updated on 2022-12-13

The Play ransomware family claimed credit for the recent attack on Antwerp, Belgium. The entry on its leak site claims that the attackers stole 557 GB of data, including passports and IDs. Read more: Play ransomware claims attack on Belgium city of Antwerp

Updated on 2022-12-06: Antwerp Digital Services Affected by Cyberattack

The Belgian city of Antwerp’s digital services were disrupted earlier this week following a cyberattack against its digital provider, Digipolis. Affected entities include police, schools, daycare centers, and Zorgbedrijf Antwerpen, which provides residential care fort senior citizens. Just over a week ago, ransomware operators published data stolen from the network of police in Zwijndrech, which is a municipality within Antwerp.

Note

• Increasingly, adversaries are targeting companies that provide digital services to both the private sector and government. From an attacker’s point of view, it’s more efficient to exploit once so that they can attack many. Both the 2019 Texas municipalities attack and this one are reminders for organizations to review their SLA with the digital service provider. Part of the review should include discussion on security controls that the service provider employs.

Read more in

• Rest homes switch to pen and paper after a massive cyber attack on Antwerp city services
• Back to pen and paper: cyber attack also hits rest homes in Antwerp
• Antwerp’s city services down after hackers attack digital partner

Overview

Hackers breached the servers of Digipolis, Antwerp city’s digital provider, leading to the disruption of services used by the police, citizens, schools, and daycare centers. Read more: Antwerp’s city services down after hackers attack digital partner