The hackers’ collective ‘Play’ has claimed responsibility for a cyber attack on the servers that host the websites of the city authorities in Antwerp. The group claimed responsibility for the hacking in a statement on its website on the so-called “Dark web”. The claim has been verified by VRT NWS and has been found to be correct.
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Hackers’ collective ‘Play’ was responsible for last week’s cyberattack on the City of Antwerp’s servers
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The VRT News’ social media and internet expert Tim Verheyden says that “Play says that during the attack it took 500 gigabytes of data and is threatening to publish it if the City of Antwerp doesn’t pay a ransom”.
Last week the city authorities in Antwerp were the victim of a cyber-attack. This caused serious disruption to public services run by the City Council. It was difficult to make an appointment at the Town Hall and museums and libraries also suffered disruption as a result of the hacking.
On Sunday evening the hackers’ collective Play claimed responsibility for the hacking on its website that is to be found on the so-called “dark web”, a section of the internet used by those involved in illegal activities. VRT News journalist Tim Verheyden says that ‘Play’ is well-known is the world of hacking. “They have been responsible for large cyber-attacks in the US, Canada, Bulgaria, Switzerland and now they say that they were also responsible for the attack on the City of Antwerp”.
Deadline on 19 December
The cyber-attack was a ransomware attack in which a ransom is demanded in exchange for not publishing data that has been stolen. The message that Play published on its website on Sunday seems to confirm this.
The hackers’ collective claims to have stolen 557 gigabytes of data and threatens to publish the data on 19 December if its ransom demand is not met. Tim Verheyden adds that this means that next Monday a considerable amount of sensitive data could be made public if the City of Antwerp refuses to meet the ransom demand.