The Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was hit by a “serious cyber attack” on Saturday evening, a Ministry spokesperson told the Austrian news agency APA know. The attack is currently ongoing and the ministry announces that it has taken technical countermeasures.
Given the seriousness of the attack, the Ministry suspects that another country is behind it. “In the past, other European countries have fallen victim to similar attacks.” The country does not announce which country could possibly be behind the attack.
On the day of the attack, the party congress of the Austrian Greens took place, at which 93 percent of the members agreed to a coalition between the Greens and the conservative ÖVP of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. For the first time, the Greens are joining forces. The ÖVP is said to have been hacked during the elections, as a result of which hackers had access to the servers for weeks and, according to Kurz, wanted to influence the elections.
To tackle this type of major cyber attack harder, Brussels has recently established in which cases sanctions may be imposed. This concerns in particular major “significant impact” attacks that are being carried out from outside the European Union. These sanctions include a re-entry ban and the freezing of bank balances.
– .
