Federal offices and Xplain adopt data protection recommendations
Federal administrations work together with private companies to operate and further develop digital applications. Personal data is transferred in the course of this processing.
Keystone / Laurent Gillieron
The Federal Office of Police (Fedpol), the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security together with the IT company Xplain have accepted the data protection recommendations regarding the ransomware incident. This was announced by the federal data protection and information commissioner on Tuesday.
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Bundesämter und Xplain nehmen Datenschutz-Empfehlungen an
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Among other things, when working with private companies, federal bodies must now check whether it is necessary for personal data to leave the protected infrastructure of the Federal Administration or for private parties to gain access to this infrastructure, the federal data protection and information commissioner wrote.
The Federal Administration and its private contract processors are now required to review their cooperation with the knowledge gained from the investigation into the ransomware incident at Xplain. The data breach has highlighted the risks and potential damage of such data transfers, it added.
Federal administrations work together with private companies to operate and further develop digital applications. Personal data is transferred in the course of this processing.
The cyberattack on the IT service provider Xplain became known on May 23, 2023. Hackers had attacked a vulnerability on the servers of the IT service provider Xplain with ransomware and stole data from the Federal Administration. Because they did not receive a ransom, they published the data on the darknet. Among other things, personal data from the military police and details of people who were listed in the hooligan information system ‘Hoogan’ in 2015 ended up on the darknet.
Adapted from German by DeepL/amva
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