The data breach on Xplain has impacted the Swiss railway FSS

The recent attack of Play ransomware on the IT services provider, Xplain has also compromised Switzerland’s national railway. Early reports stated that the Swiss government suffered a data loss incident after its third-party service provider sustained an attack. However, a new investigation revealed that the attack had a further impact.

The Swiss police authority launched an investigation into the attack that hit Xplain earlier this month. The said IT company provides services to Switzerland’s critical sectors, such as the federal and cantonal government, military forces, Fedpol, and customs.

Unfortunately, the ransomware attack on Xplain indirectly affected the Federal Office of Police and the Swiss army. Both entities have the same IT provider, which recently suffered a hack.

 

The attack on Xplain has been the cause of the exposure of stolen data.

 

The data breach operators initially posted the alleged stolen information from the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) and the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) after they attacked Xplain.

Moreover, local media reported that the attackers had leveraged a vulnerability on the impacted company’s servers. Both government institutions confirmed the attack but tried to underestimate the impact of the incident.

Fedpol claimed that the threat actors only had access to simulated, anonymous information for trial purposes. Xplain told Fedpol about the cybersecurity incident a few days ago. However, a Fedpol representative downplayed the incident since they claimed that the agency’s project did not suffer an impact during the attack.

On the other hand, FOCBS stated that the exposed data from its systems are only from correspondence with its clients. A tabloid initially reported the news of the FSS data leak. Still, the latest reports claimed that the Swiss railway company is the newest entity that suffered indirectly from the hack.

Lastly, the authorities of the canton of Aargau have also confirmed that they experienced compromise after the breach. Authorities are still having their investigations regarding the security breach to know the entirety of this cybercriminal operation’s effect in Switzerland.

The Swiss government and authorities are waiting for the additional findings of the attack. The data breach may or may not affect more organisations.