FDFA target of virus attack

 On 22 October 2009 IT specialists from the FDFA in conjunction with Microsoft discovered that the FDFA had been the target of a professional virus attack. The hackers, whose identities are as yet unknown, made use of special software during the attack to gain access to the Department’s IT infrastructure and acquire information. The malware was well hidden and caused almost no noticeable disruptions to the IT infrastructure. Clarifications are currently under way to determine whether or not data has been accessed. 

The FDFA has isolated its IT network from the Internet to prevent data from leaving the system and to prevent the IT infrastructure from being tampered with by third parties. The technical restrictions are expected to be lifted within the next few days. 

The FDFA’s in-house IT specialists are working with specialists from the Federal Office of Information Technology, Systems and Telecommunication (FOITT) and from the Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI) to resolve  the problem.

Address for enquiries:

Information FDFA
Bundeshaus West
CH-3003 Bern
Tel.: (+41) 031 322 31 53
Fax: (+41) 031 324 90 47
E-Mail: info@eda.admin.ch

Publisher:

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs