Hackers have stolen email addresses during a cyber-attack on the Neuchâtel Cantonal Bank, but the bank says the data is old and of limited value.
There was a cyber attack on the Neuchâtel Cantonal Bank (BCN) at the beginning of August, spokeswoman Marie-Laure Chapatte, told the «AWP» news agency (in German), resulting in the potential theft of around 1,500 email addresses.
Neither the banking infrastructure - such as the online banking platform - nor other sensitive systems were affected by the attack on August 4 and 5, the bank added.
BCN said the attack was «contained quickly». There was also no attempt at extortion or ransom demands as in ransomware attacks.
Nothing of Value Taken?
The attackers succeeded in exploiting a vulnerability in the BCN website that has since been dealt with. An external expert was brought in to analyze the situation more thoroughly.
«The bank believes it is adequately protected from the threat of a cyber-attack,» the spokeswoman said.
Some of the information that the hackers accessed was old and dates back to 2012.
«Due to the poor quality of the data, we were unable to contact those potentially affected because we could not always identify them,» Chapatte added.
That sounds alarming, but all in all the bank thinks it is in a position to identify those potentially affected.
The BCN revealed the incident on its website last week.
