Cyberattacks caused a breach in the Land Registry of Greece

The Land Registry department in Greece has announced a data breach incident that affected one of its networks after suffering 400 cyberattacks on its IT infrastructure over the last week.

The Greek agency stated that hackers could access employee terminals and steal 1.2 GB of data, totalling about 0.0006% of the total data stored by the government. Moreover, the stolen information apparently does not contain personal information on Greek citizens but rather consists mainly of standard admin records.

Hence, a potential data leak from the incident would unlikely significantly impact the registry’s operations.

 

The Land Registry attackers allegedly tried to generate rogue accounts to infiltrate the Greek government agency.

 

The Land Registry notification explained that the hackers attempted to create a rogue account in order to gain access to its core database, but these attempts were unsuccessful.

However, the unauthorised individuals still managed to access one of the database’s backups, which are updated daily. On the other hand, the agency announced that it could deny the threat actors’ subsequent attempt to exfiltrate their stored data to an external server.

Additionally, the Land Registry’s internal investigation, aided by Greece’s Cybersecurity Directorate of the General Staff of National Defense, revealed no signs of ransomware being installed on the compromised systems.

Emergency measures have been implemented to lessen the risk of ransomware, such as disconnecting all VPN connectivity to block rogue individuals from navigating across the network. Furthermore, authorities urge all registry employees to reset their passwords and employ two-factor authentication to help secure their accounts against illegal access and as a precaution.

The last reported cyberattack attempt occurred on July 19, 2024, but the cybersecurity team immediately prevented it. No additional updates have been released as of now; thus, it is unknown whether the attacks will continue.

Currently, the agency’s digital services are operating normally, and transactions with residents, which the authorities classify as safe, have been uninterrupted throughout the attacks.

Still, Greeks, especially the employees, should be vigilant with their digital presence as the threat actors could persist and force another batch of cybercriminal campaigns.