A cyberattack targeting a contractor working for the International Committee of the Red Cross has spilled confidential data on more than 500,000 “highly vulnerable” people, many of whom have been separated from their families due to conflict, migration and disaster.
The Red Cross did not name the contractor, based in Switzerland, which it uses to store data nor say what led to the security incident, but said that the data comes from at least 60 Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies.
In a statement, the international organization pleaded with the attackers not to publicly share or leak the information given the sensitivity of the data.
“Your actions could potentially cause yet more harm and pain to those who have already endured untold suffering. The real people, the real families behind the information you now have are among the world’s least powerful. Please do the right thing. Do not share, sell, leak or otherwise use this data,” read the statement.
As a result of the breach, the organization shut down its Restoring Family Links program, which aims to reunite family members separated by conflict or disaster.
International human rights groups and disaster relief agencies are an increasing target for hackers. Last year the United Nations had its network breached by unknown cyberattackers, and Microsoft revealed that the U.S. Agency for International Development was targeted to launch malicious emails to thousands of targets.
