Hackers stole a six-figure amount from Swiss universities

Threat actors have hacked at least three Swiss universities, including the University of Basel and managed to drain employee salary transfers.

Threat actors have managed to steal employee salary payments at several Swiss universities, including the University of Basel.

“According to our information, several universities in Switzerland have been affected,” explained Martina Weiss, Secretary General of the Rectors’ Conference of the Swiss Universities.

The hackers carried out spear-phishing attacks against the Swiss universities in an attempt of tricking its employees into providing their access data.

According to the SonntagsZeitung, the Basel public prosecutor’s office confirmed that hackers compromised the systems at the universities, then the threat actors hijacked the employee salary transfers by changing the beneficiaries’ accounts.

The SonntagsZeitung also added that hackers attempted to breach the University of Zurich, but the employees at the university recognised the phishing attempts and neutralized them.

It seems that the hackers stolen a six-figure amount and immediately moved the funds abroad.

“The cybercriminals embezzled a six-figure amount, the office said. It added that part of the misappropriated funds was now in foreign accounts.” reads the site SwissInfo.

“Umbrella organisation swissuniversities has sent a warning email to keep universities on their guard.”

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, cybercrime)