Data of 40,000 Swiss students and teachers stolen

The unauthorised access was detected last Monday. Keystone / Str

A cyberattack has targeted the IT support platform used by post-compulsory education institutions in canton Vaud, resulting in the theft of personal data belonging to around 3,500 teachers and 38,000 students. The canton said no sensitive data was compromised.

Names, surnames, school email addresses and the content of IT support requests were copied, according to a cantonal press releaseExternal link published on Saturday. Passwords are not stored on the platform, officials said.

While support requests sent to the IT support were accessed, the canton stressed that no school data, such as grades or student records, was stolen.

Beware of phishing attempts

The unauthorised access was detected last Monday. The platform was immediately taken offline and secured, while users were informed. The incident has been reported to the Federal Office for Cybersecurity and the cantonal data protection authority. A criminal complaint will be filed.

The canton is urging students and teachers to remain alert to possible phishing attempts, advising them to never share passwords, to be cautious of urgent or unusual messages, and to report any suspicious messages.

This incident follows a series of recent cyberattacks, such as those targeting an IT provider to the federal pension fund Publica and the online sales platform Ricardo.

For cybersecurity expert Solange Ghernaouti, the latest incident is a sign of failure. “I believe that this type of attack demonstrates once again the fragility of our digital infrastructures and the lack of security, protection, and anticipation,” she told the Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

Criminal or political motives?

It remains difficult to know who is behind the attack on the IT support platform for Vaud’s upper secondary schools. However, according to the expert, it follows familiar patterns.

“There are several possible interpretations. The first is a criminal interpretation for the purpose of financial gain, because this data sells well,” she says. Indeed, this data can be used for “profiling, blackmail, and scams”.

“But there may also be a political reading of the phenomenon with an underlying desire to destabilise civil society and to create distrust among the population towards institutions,” said Ghernaouti.

+ How we produce news in English
Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist. 

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