Salzburg Labour Chamber finds no sign of attack after hack

The Salzburg Chamber of Labour says its systems show no sign of compromise after a major cyberattack on its counterpart in Upper Austria, ORF reported. Salzburg immediately reviewed all of its security systems after hackers accessed member data in Linz.

The Upper Austrian Chamber of Labour was targeted by the attack on Monday last week, leaving its systems completely blocked. Investigators found after almost a week that the attackers had also gained access to member data.

Salzburg director Eva Stöckl said the incident was being taken very seriously and that the organisation’s systems had been checked immediately. “Based on the current situation, there is no indication that the Salzburg Chamber of Labour is affected,” she said.

The individual chambers use different IT infrastructures and their own security systems, meaning an attack on one does not automatically affect the others. However, they share security standards and are closely connected, Stöckl said.

She said there was no such thing as complete data security, adding that the Salzburg chamber invests heavily in continuous monitoring and checks. The data accessed in Upper Austria has not yet been specified. Salzburg also stores highly sensitive information, including internal personnel records and member data, some of which is also held by other organisations that provide data to the chamber.

The Upper Austrian Chamber of Labour said hackers may have accessed sensitive data belonging to about 700,000 members. Members have been advised not to respond to messages about payments or competitions that supposedly come from the Upper Austrian chamber.