Data Breach

Xplain hack impacted the Swiss cantonal police and Fedpol

Several Swiss cantonal police, the army, customs and the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) were impacted by the attack against IT firm Xplain.

Swiss police launched an investigation into the cyber attack that hit the Bernese IT company Xplain, which provides its services to several federal and cantonal government departments, the army, customs, and the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol).

The news of the attack was first reported on Saturday by the Swiss newspaper Le Temps.

“for the first time, several cantonal police forces, the Swiss army or the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) are indirectly affected by a cyberattack.” reads Le Temps. “These major players in security have one thing in common: they have the same IT service provider, the Bernese company Xplain, which has just been hacked.”

The Play ransomware gang claimed responsibility for the attack.

Threat actors have already published alleged stolen data from the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) and the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) on a Darknet forum.

Local media reported that attackers have exploited a vulnerability on the servers of the company.

Both Fedpol and the federal customs office confirmed the attack but attempted to downplay the incident. According to Fedpol, threat actors only had access to simulated, anonymous data for test purposes.

Xplain notified Fedpol about the attack a few days ago, revealed a Fedpol spokesman who added that the projects of the agency were not exposed.

The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) said data from the FOCBS that were exposed are from correspondence with its clients.

“Switzerland has seen a rising number of cyberattacks in recent years, including on local authorities, doctors’ surgeries, a guardianship service, media companies and economic giants such as ABB and Swissport.” reported Swissinfo. 

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Xplain)

Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.

Recent Posts

Apple confirmed that Messages app flaw was actively exploited in the wild<gwmw style="display: none; background-color: transparent;"></gwmw>

Apple confirmed that a security flaw in its Messages app was actively exploited in the…

6 hours ago

Trend Micro fixes critical bugs in Apex Central and TMEE PolicyServer

Trend Micro fixed multiple vulnerabilities that impact its Apex Central and Endpoint Encryption (TMEE) PolicyServer…

9 hours ago

Paragon Graphite Spyware used a zero-day exploit to hack at least two journalists’ iPhones<gwmw style="display:none;"></gwmw><gwmw style="display:none;"></gwmw>

Security researchers at Citizen Lab revealed that Paragon's Graphite spyware can hack fully updated iPhones…

20 hours ago

SinoTrack GPS device flaws allow remote vehicle control and location tracking

Two vulnerabilities in SinoTrack GPS devices can allow remote vehicle control and location tracking by…

1 day ago

U.S. CISA adds Wazuh, and WebDAV flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) adds Wazuh, and WebDAV flaws to its Known…

1 day ago

Exposed eyes: 40,000 security cameras vulnerable to remote hacking

Over 40,000 internet-exposed security cameras worldwide are vulnerable to remote hacking, posing serious privacy and…

1 day ago