European Commission confirms cyberattack following hacker data breach claims

The European Commission has confirmed it was the target of a cyberattack after reports that hackers had accessed and stolen significant amounts of data from its cloud systems.

According to Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier, the organisation identified a security incident affecting part of its cloud infrastructure.

“We have discovered a cyber-attack, which affected part of our cloud infrastructure,” Regnier said on Friday.

He said immediate actions were taken to contain the situation, and measures were implemented to reduce potential risks. While the investigation into the incident is still ongoing, officials have stated that there is currently no evidence suggesting that the Commission’s internal systems were compromised.

In a more detailed update published on its official website, the Commission clarified that the breach specifically targeted its cloud environment that hosts online services. This infrastructure supports the Europa.eu platform, which hosts a large portion of the Commission’s web presence and publicly accessible data.

The cybersecurity incident was first reported by Bleeping Computer, which cited sources familiar with the matter. According to the report, attackers allegedly extracted hundreds of gigabytes of data, including multiple databases, from the Commission’s account on Amazon Web Services.

The hackers reportedly shared evidence of their access with the publication, including screenshots that appeared to confirm unauthorised entry into the system. Authorities have not yet disclosed the full scope of the breach or the exact type of data that may have been accessed or exfiltrated. The Commission has emphasised that its investigation.