Cyberattack exposes data from federal pension fund Publica

Data were taken in a cyberattack on an external software supplier to Publica, Switzerland’s federal pension fund, the fund said in a statement reported by SRF. The type and extent of the data involved are not yet known. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation.

The supplier detected the attack in late September and filed a criminal complaint. It also notified the relevant federal authorities, Publica and other customers. Publica is working with federal offices to establish how much of the fund’s data was affected.

Publica said it had informed insured members about the data breach, its possible consequences and the measures taken. Other federal offices have no business relationships with the affected supplier, according to the statement.

Publica is one of Switzerland’s largest pension funds and insures, among others, employees of the federal administration and the ETH sector. At the end of 2025, it had about 70,000 active members and 41,600 pension recipients, with total assets of nearly 45 billion francs.