s yet unidentifed hackers have managed to steal employee salary payments at several Swiss universities, officials said Sunday.
“According to our information, several top schools in Switzerland have been affected,” Martina Weiss, director general of the rectors group of Switzerland’s public universities, told AFP.
The hackers used information obtained by phishing — tricking a person into passing on their personal details — for their attacks on at least three universities, including the University of Basel.
According to the SonntagsZeitung newspaper, they accessed the universities’ payment systems and changed the instructions on salary transfers, stealing a six-figure sum.
The University of Zurich managed to fend off the hackers after employees recognised their modus operandi.
The Basel public prosecutor’s office, cited by the SonntagsZeitung, claims that the hackers used the stolen personal data to directly into the university system and alter the beneficiaries’ accounts so that salaries could be paid.
Six figures were embezzled by the cybercriminals, according to the office. It also stated that a portion of the cash that were embezzled were now in foreign accounts.
Swissuniversities, an umbrella organization, has issued a cautionary email to institutions. The SonntagsZeitung stated that the University of Zurich, which was also the target of the attack, was able to block it because staff members there were aware of the phishing attempt.
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