Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

Today in 2007 the picturesque Lavaux wine-growing region on Lake Geneva was recognised as a world heritage site by UNESCO. Sixteen years later, we look at a massive theft of Swiss Abroad data. It’s enough to turn one to drink.

© Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

In the news:  Huge Credit Suisse job losses, the new top Swiss negotiator with the EU is named, and an expanded sanctions list targeting Russia.

• UBS is planning to cut more than half of Credit Suisse’s 45,000-strong workforce starting next month as a result of the bank’s emergency takeover. Bankers, traders and support staff in Credit Suisse’s investment bank in London, New York, and in some parts of Asia are expected to bear the brunt of the cuts, with almost all activities at risk.
• Diplomat Alexandre Fasel has been appointed as the new State Secretary for the Swiss foreign ministry, succeeding Livia Leu. He will take charge of the intricate European Union dossier previously handled by Leu, who resigned as Switzerland’s top negotiator with the EU last month as she saw no improvements in ongoing talks with Brussels.
• Switzerland will enforce a newly expanded sanctions list targeting Russia, aligning with the European Union’s 11th sanctions package. The sanctions will be effective from 6pm today. The EU’s latest sanctions include financial and travel restrictions on 71 individuals and 33 entities. The targets encompass those involved in facilitating the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, members of the Russian armed forces, key representatives of state-controlled Russian media, and individuals affiliated with the mercenary Wagner Group.

© Keystone

Cyber blackmailers have stolen and published what is probably the most comprehensive data set on Swiss citizens abroad.

In mid-May, a mass of stolen data appeared on the darknet – the part of the internet that is not accessible to normal computer users – containing information about the subscribers of Swiss ReviewExternal link, the magazine with which the government keeps citizens abroad up to date on what’s happening in Switzerland.

As my colleague Balz Rigendinger explains, this data set currently contains over 425,000 addresses, 40% of which are postal addresses and 60% email addresses. This is because anyone who is registered in Switzerland as a citizen residing abroad receives Swiss Review automatically – by email or by post. According to the foreign ministry, of the 800,000 Swiss Abroad, only 330,000 do not receive Swiss Review; this figure includes Italian speakers.

The foreign ministry treats these addresses according to data protection rules. This is because they are not submitted voluntarily: they come from the consulates. Anyone who is no longer registered in Switzerland is obliged to declare their place of residence abroad to the relevant Swiss representation. This is how the Swiss Review subscriber base is formed.

The Swiss government considers the data to be so sensitive that not even the publisher of Swiss Review, the Swisscommunity organisation, has access to the address data of its readers. But it is precisely this data that can now be found on the darknet – or at least in part, it’s not yet clear. “The foreign ministry has no knowledge of how much data has actually been stolen,” it admitted.

“It is very regrettable that data that was not collected voluntarily should be made public in this way,” Adrian Lobsiger, the federal data protection commissioner, told SWI swissinfo.ch. A criminal complaint has been filed. Cyber experts are investigating.

RSI

Before it became Sacramento, the present-day capital of California was called Sutter’s Fort and then Nueva Helvetia by its founder, a controversial Swiss emigrant named John Sutter.

Sutter (1803-1880) became famous as a pioneer, adventurer, politician, California landowner, and as a somewhat dubious “hero” of the American frontier. We look at Sutter’s life and legacy in two articles: The Gold Rush and The Shattered Myth. 

In the 19th century thousands of Swiss travelled to the United States to seek their fortune, founding new communities which are still named after places in Switzerland. California was a favoured destination for Swiss leaving their homeland, and in particular for people from the southern region of Ticino. An estimated 27,000 emigrants left for the Golden State between the late 19th and early 20th centuries to work as dairymen or ranchers, often on land holdings belonging to compatriots. Many went on to be landowners themselves.

Apart from the gold to be found there, another attractive feature of California was its liberal settlement legislation, notably the Homestead Act. Passed in 1862, it simplified land claims. The major settlements were in the region of San Francisco, along the coastal range and in the central valleys. The mild climate in these areas particularly appealed to winemakers. Around the time of the notorious California Gold Rush in 1849, the main pioneer figure there was John Sutter.

Despite Sutter’s name living on in Sutter County, which lies along the Sacramento River in the Sacramento Valley and in 2020 had a population of about 100,000, modern research reveals how the unscrupulous Swiss was a failure as a businessman and engaged in slavery – treating the indigenous people in horrific, inhuman ways.

Discover the light and dark sides to John Sutter in our two articles.