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Antwerp’s digital attacker sends down city services
Antwerp in Belgium is currently trying to restore digital services disrupted by last night’s cyberattack against its digital provider.
This disruption affected citizens’ services, schools and daycare centers as well as the police who were working only intermittently until today.
Disruption of email and telephone systems
Although an investigation continues, the limited information suggests that a ransomware threat actor may have launched an attack.
According to , hackers were able disrupt Antwerp’s services by breaching Digipolis’s servers. Digipolis is the digital city partner providing administrative software.
It is also noted that nearly all Windows apps have been affected.
Some departments also had no phone service. was a member of the council for Wilrijk. She stated earlier that email services were down in the city.
The Platform for Decision Making in Antwerp and Email are not available
reported that they received confirmation from an actor that ransomware caused the disruption.
These problems extend to the city’s reservation system. It has been closed, meaning that people are unable to get their ID cards. Only travel cards can be used today.
Impact on residential centers
Antwerp Healthcare Company (Zorgbedrijf Antwerpen) is one of the other services that were affected. This company provides senior care services in the province.
Johan De Muynck was the Zorgbedrijf’s general manager. He stated that it made the software, which kept track of who would receive the medication, unusable.
The staff at 18 residential care centres had to change to pen and paper, and instead rely on paper prescriptions to provide them to the senior citizens who needed them.
Doctors must now sign prescriptions which we deliver to the pharmacy. There is a lot of paperwork, but everybody gets their medication today. De Muynck stated that everything could be automated again tomorrow morning.
De Muynck said that information regarding residents is safe in this instance, as it was not affected by an attack.
Antwerp’s IT system will be fully operational by December 31, according to Antwerp mayor.
The fire and police departments were also affected, but emergency services are still available.
Just over one week ago, Ragnar Locker, an ransomware gang , leaked data from Zwijndrecht the local police station in Zwijndrecht . This is a municipality within the Antwerp province.
Belgian media described the published information as the most significant theft from the public service of the country. According to reports, the cache contained car plates, criminal report files, investigation records, and fines from 16 years ago.