Austrian Foreign Ministry Reports Data Breach
The Austrian Foreign Ministry has announced a possible data leak that, according to initial findings, could affect travel registration and the ministry's public website. Investigations were launched immediately, and online services were shut down as a precautionary measure.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry became aware of a possible data breach. / Picture: © BMEIA Bundesministerium für Europa, Integration und Äußeres / Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
In a press release, the ministry announced that it had been made aware of the incident. “Investigations were launched immediately to clarify the incident as quickly as possible,” the statement said. Those affected would be informed as soon as the extent of the leak had been determined.
Initial indications suggest that data from the travel registration service for Austrians abroad and the Foreign Ministry's public website may have been compromised. The ministry's central IT systems were not affected. However, as an immediate measure, online services such as travel registration were temporarily deactivated to prevent further unauthorized access.
The ministry emphasized that it is taking the incident “very seriously.” For urgent cases, the Austrian representative authorities and the Foreign Ministry can be reached by telephone at +43 1 90115 4411. They regret the inconvenience and will provide information as soon as new findings are available.
This incident is one of a series of cyberattacks that have increasingly affected public administration in Austria in recent years. In 2022, for example, the state of Carinthia was the victim of a serious ransomware attack in which data from thousands of citizens was stolen. In February 2024, the municipality of Korneuburg had to shut down its entire network to ward off an attack.
In recent years, there has been an increase in cyberattacks on government institutions across Europe. In 2022, for example, the Belgian Federal Public Service Interior (FPS Interior) fell victim to a cyberattack in which the personal data of over 1.4 million Belgians was stolen. In Germany, too, there was a large-scale attack on the government network in 2018 that affected the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defense and remained undetected for months.
These examples illustrate that government agencies are an attractive target for cybercriminals, whether for financial motives or political reasons. The threat situation, therefore, requires not only rapid responses in an emergency but also continuous strengthening of digital defense systems.