Moldova probes possible foreign state involvement in attacks on public digital services, Prime Minister Vasile Tofan said; the Electronic Governance Agency (AGE) estimates data tied to about 750,000 state personal identification numbers (IDNPs) was extracted.
AGE said attackers queried about one million IDNPs between Oct. 19 and 23. It put the preliminary number of identifiers linked to extracted data at about 750,000. MOLDPRES reported that Tofan said the figure did not mean 750,000 accounts were hacked; it counted cases in which at least one data element was taken.
AGE said exposed information could include names, birth details, family information, health insurance and social benefits, driving and vehicle records, and financial details such as IBANs, tax debts and MPay payment history. The agency said not every affected person had all those categories exposed and that bank-card information was not affected.
The agency said attackers exploited vulnerabilities in services available without authentication. It recorded about 11 million access requests against public digital services and said unauthorized data extraction stopped on Oct. 23; it blocked a forced-access attempt on Oct. 25 and reported unsuccessful data-extraction attempts on Oct. 27. AGE also ordered checks of 82 digital services and preventive disconnection of more than 30 information systems and administrative panels.
AGE warned that exposed personal information could be used for fraud or online manipulation. Tofan told Euronews, “I don’t think the list of suspects is very long.” The Record reported that Moldova had not publicly attributed the attack to a specific country or hacking group.
AGE said it is auditing the incident’s full scope and gave no date for a final assessment.
