Swiss capital hit by 23 million cyberattacks in one year
Last year alone 23 million cyberattacks were carried out on the city of Bern, the Swiss capital’s mayor, Alec von Graffenried, said before the start of this year’s Swiss Cyber Security Days (SCSD).
The city’s IT infrastructure is “constantly in defence mode”, von Graffenried said on Wednesday. “The question is not whether we will be attacked, but rather when will the first attack be successful?”
+ Hacker steals contact details of Bern police force
Security must be constantly developed further, including to protect systemically important companies such as Energie Wasser Bern, he said. Due to the large amount of sensitive personal data, administrations are also a frequent target for cyber criminals, he explained.
+ Explainer: how vulnerable is Switzerland to cyberattacks?
It is therefore important for experts to discuss the topic, von Graffenried said. The Swiss Cyber Security Days, which are taking place for the first time in Bern on February 20 and 21, offer an opportunity to do so. The event will focus on opportunities and risks in cyberspace.
The speakers come from the fields of science, research, defence, administration, business, media and civilian life. New findings in the field of autonomous robots and artificial intelligence will also be presented.
+ Cyberattacks set to become ‘uninsurable’, says Zurich chief
“We cannot completely prevent crime, but we can increase resilience,” said SCSD President Doris Fiala. Christoph Ammann, Bern’s director of economic affairs, also emphasised the immense damage caused by cybercrime. In the canton of Bern alone, the damage could exceed one billion francs.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.