Through its official spokesperson, the European Commission acknowledged that last March it was the victim of a dangerous cyberattack that would also have affected other organizations in the European Union. Details such as the type of attack impacted the systems of these organizations or the hacking groups behind the incident are currently unknown.
“Multiple organizations linked to the European Union, including the European Commission, were affected by a serious cybersecurity incident last week,” a Bloomberg researcher said at the end of March. “It is necessary to mention that we are in the initial stage of the investigation, so it is too early to share additional details.”
Although the spokesperson only mentioned a “cybersecurity incident”, a source close to the European Commission stated that this was a severe cyberattack that could jeopardize the European Union’s critical infrastructure, so all staff working in these institutions has even being alerted over a potential spear phishing attack.
This incident is being investigated by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), which has the collaboration of law enforcement agencies across the European Union: “We are also working closely with an IT provider company, which operates a solution employed by the affected institutions,” the spokesperson added.
As an additional security measure, the European Commission established a permanent monitoring protocol in its networks, as well as mitigating the security risks identified so far.
To learn more about information security risks, malware variants, vulnerabilities and information technologies, feel free to access the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) websites.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
