The ICRC victim of a cyberattack threatening the data of more than 500,000 people

Victim of a cyber attack, the director general of the Red Cross implores the perpetrators of the attack not to sell or share in any way the data of the vulnerable people concerned.

REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration

Text by: RFI Follow

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It's a rather special cyberattack, not so much by its nature, but by its target: the ICRC, the International Committee of the Red Cross.

He announces that he has been the victim of a vast computer hacking.

Hackers took the data of more than 515,000 vulnerable people.

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With our correspondent in Geneva

,

Jérémie Lanche

Among those whose data has been hacked are migrants, victims of conflict, disasters and prisoners in some 60 countries.

If their names and information end up in the wrong hands, these people and their families could find themselves at even greater risk, including from the regimes they are trying to flee.

Red Cross

Director General

Robert Mardini implores the attackers not to sell or otherwise share the data.

The ICRC does not know who is behind the attack, nor even if the hackers deliberately targeted the Red Cross or if the organization is a collateral victim of the attack which targeted an external service provider. responsible for storing ICRC data.

In the meantime, the organization has suspended all access to data whose security has been compromised and it declares itself ready to dialogue anonymously with

the hackers

.

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  • Internet

  • Computer science

  • NGO