Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan has said he suspects a foreign state was involved in a series of cyberattacks on the country’s government databases.
Because of the ongoing hacking attacks on state IT systems, the head of government cancelled a trip to Brussels, Euronews reports.
Attackers breached government databases and gained access to citizens’ personal identification numbers. According to the prime minister, civil registries were hit, and hackers extracted around 750,000 sets of personal data.
Tofan said law enforcement had received advance warnings about possible threats and are convinced that state structures from another country were involved in the crime. The official stressed that the circle of likely suspects is fairly limited.
The incident comes amid a rise in cyberattacks across Europe, some of which are linked to Russia. In particular, this week seven countries reported hacking intrusions into supermarket cooling systems.
- Moldova’s e-Governance Agency reported that, as a result of a series of hacking attacks on Moldovan state digital services, attackers may have gained access to personal data linked to around 750,000 personal codes.
- From 19 to 23 October, hackers attempted to steal information relating to nearly a million identification numbers. The data to which attackers may have gained unauthorised access includes first and last names, dates and places of birth, information about relatives, health insurance, pensions, disability status, driving licences, ownership of cars or companies, as well as photographs and financial data, including IBAN and tax history.
- The first attack was stopped on 23 October; however, on 25 and 27 October hackers made new attempts to leak data, which specialists successfully blocked.
- Incidentally, Moldova has already recorded a surge in Russian interference during the parliamentary election campaign.