The City of Antwerp restores various services after a cyber attack
Various applications of the city of Antwerp have been restored after a cyber attack that failed last week. Residents of Antwerp can, among other things, make online reports about nuisance and graffiti, but can also request deeds and extracts via the digital counter of the municipality.
The cyber attack on the city of Antwerp has seriously disrupted digital services. Various applications were no longer available and the physical services also worked. For example, it was no longer possible to borrow books in libraries and citizens could no longer order waste stickers.
ransomware
The attack was claimed by the attack group Play, which distributes ransomware of the same name. The group, together with organizations worldwide, now converges in Antwerp. The attackers encrypt content and demand a ransom. The group also steals data from victims and publishes it if payment is not made.
This is also the case with the city of Antwerp; the attackers threatened to publish stolen information on December 19. In between, it is said to be 557 gigabytes of data. Among other personal information, passport data and financial documents of residents of Antwerp have been captured.