Cyberattack may have exposed Reichenau residents’ personal data

A cyberattack on the municipality of Reichenau an der Rax may have exposed personal data belonging to countless residents, ORF reported. The Kronen Zeitung first reported that the data had appeared on the dark web.

The municipality confirmed the attack to ORF. It said the incident, which it described as criminally motivated, happened at the end of July. After discovering it, officials took the affected systems offline, rebuilt all servers, notified police and reported the incident to the data protection authority.

At the time, the municipality informed only current and former employees and elected officials because it could not determine the extent of the data leak. It is now working with experts and authorities to respond to the attack. The municipality said data taken in the breach was now publicly visible online, according to the Kronen Zeitung.

Residents are being urged to be particularly cautious in the coming weeks and months about unexpected emails, text messages or phone calls that refer to personal information. Police are investigating, with cybercrime specialists involved, Chief Inspector Johann Baumschlager told the APA news agency on Thursday.