Coordinated has particularly serious dimensions cyber attack received by the Hellenic Land Registry. Hackers gained access to one of the databases, where all the information regarding property in our country is kept.
And it will take time to determine whether data was stolen (which will have unknown consequences) or if ransomware was installed, meaning that the hackers then “block” access to the database and demand a ransom.
The Directorate of Cyber Defense of the GEETHA was involved in the case, as the land registry is one of the country’s critical infrastructures.
From two points
As soon as the breach was discovered, the head office computer system was immediately “locked down”, while employees were asked to change all passwords on their computers and activate the two-step authentication system.
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According to a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Digital Governance, who spoke to “K”, in one case hackers managed to extract files from employees’ computers, which are considered of little importance.
Yesterday followingnoon, however, it was revealed that during the second attack, one of the main servers of the IT System of the Hellenic Land Registry (SPEK) was breached, specifically one of the backup copies of the land registry database.
Until late yesterday followingnoon, all that had been known was that no damage had been caused, and no citizen data had been removed. However, the hackers had left no traces of what files they may have copied or whether they installed “digital hostage” software, which has yet to be activated.
Late yesterday followingnoon, the ministry issued a statement, claiming that “from the analysis of experts so far, it appears that the attack has not achieved its purpose in any critical infrastructure and all digital services remain active.”
The hackers left no trace of what files they may have copied or whether they installed “digital hostage” software, which has not yet been activated.
Given that the Hellenic Land Registry is estimated to be an organization with more than 1,500 terminals and servers, checking the extent of the attack will take time. Because the land registry is one of the critical infrastructures of the country, the Cyber Defense Division of the GHETHA was involved in the case, which will file a report in the coming days regarding the incident.
The incident is particularly serious, as the cadastral database holds all information on real estate in Greece, along with the owners’ personal data.
This information is of great value for obvious reasons and in any case cannot be “trafficked” on the Internet (in our country, apart from the employees of the Hellenic Land Registry, access is only allowed to certified lawyers, notaries and engineers).
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The only positive news regarding the attack is that the “hole” in the system has been blocked, no damage has been detected and the transaction part was not affected, except for the operation of the systems of the central offices of the Hellenic Cadastre. Therefore, transactions with land registry offices throughout the country continued as normal yesterday, as did the operation of digital services.
As the company has made public in the past, the cadastral data is kept in different ways, as the different levels of the system correspond to different security systems (firewalls). And the database is not one, but there are also backup copies on servers located in different locations (outside the land registry structures). It was one of those servers that was attacked.
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It is worth noting that at the beginning of July the Information Society announced an open international competition to strengthen the security of public sector information and systems. The tender has a budget of 47.3 million euros (including VAT), an amount covered by the Recovery Fund, and concerns four public bodies (all supervised by the Ministry of Digital Governance), including the Hellenic Land Registry.
The competition concerns everything from the evaluation of the organizations’ readiness to respond to cyber attacks and the renewal or maintenance of their technological equipment, to the provision of specialized security services with the aim of strengthening the perimeter security of critical information infrastructures.
Source: Daily
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