Cybersecurity: Red Cross Attack Exposes Data of Over 515,000 Vunerable People
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is best known for assisting war victims, hackers broke into servers hosting its data and gained access to personal and confidential information on over 500,000 vulnerable people.
According to the Geneva-based agency, the hack this week by unknown attackers damaged data on approximately 515,000 people, “including those separated from their families due to conflict, migration, and disaster, missing persons and their families, and people in custody.” According to the organization, the information came from at least 60 Red Cross and Red Crescent chapters around the world.
“An attack on the data of people who are missing makes the anguish and suffering for families even more difficult to endure,” Robert Mardini, the ICRC’s director-general, said in a statement. “We are all appalled and perplexed that this humanitarian information would be targeted and compromised.”
According to the ICRC, the hack targeted an external contractor in Switzerland that holds data for the humanitarian organization, and there was no evidence that the information was publicly disseminated or released.
Crystal Wells, an ICRC spokeswoman, stated that while the ICRC cannot be confident if the records were stolen, “We believe it is plausible. We know they were into our system and got access to our data.”
According to Wells, the ICRC does not wish to speculate on who might be responsible for the incident.
Mardini addressed the individual or people responsible for the intrusion, saying, “The real people, the real families behind the material you now have are among the world’s least powerful.” Please do what is right. This data should not be shared, sold, leaked, or used in any other way.”
That means the ICRC assumes the perpetrators are crooks looking to profit from the data, such as for identity theft.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) claimed the breach led it to shut down systems related to its “Restoring Family Links” program, which tries to reunite family members separated by conflict, catastrophe, or migration.
According to Ewan Watson, an ICRC spokesman, the organization had never before faced a cyberattack of this magnitude.
