Attackers break into European Central Bank site

Hackers broke into the website of the European Central Bank and stole email addresses and other contact details. It is not clear whether any passwords were also stolen.

The ECB discovered the hack after the central bank received an anonymous email in which someone, most likely the attacker or attackers, demanded financial compensation for the data that was stolen. In those cases, attackers usually threaten to make the data public. It is unknown whether the ECB has complied with the attackers’ demands.

The ECB emphasizes that internal systems are “physically separated” from the website, and that no sensitive market secrets have been stolen. The attackers looted data stored in a system that allowed people to register for ECB events. Among the data in the database were unencrypted e-mail addresses and other name and address details. It is not clear whether there are also passwords among the cracked data, although the ECB has reset all passwords as a precaution.