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Cyberattack

Luxembourg government responds to cyberattack

Prime Minister Luc Frieden says authorities know who was behind the attacks

© Photo credit: Shutterstock

Prime Minister Luc Frieden says authorities know who was behind a cyberattack on Luxembourg government websites on Thursday morning.

Speaking on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, Frieden explained that he had been pleased with the authorities’ response to the attack: “I am quite satisfied with the state’s response - our plans worked,” he said.

Frieden also explained that there had been no data theft. “The lesson is: you always have to be well prepared and have contingency plans ready.”

The prime minister did not want to reveal who might be behind the attack nor what the motive may have been. “It’s not useful to publicise the people behind it - but our experts know where the attack came from.”

The attack had prompted an emergency meeting after several websites were shut down on Thursday afternoon, including that of the national health fund CNS, as well as the government.lu site and myguichet. By Friday morning all sites were up and running again.

“Considering the size of the attack, prime minister Luc Frieden called for a crisis unit to be established,” a spokeswoman for the ministry of state told the Luxembourg Times during a phone call.

“The prime minister is being kept up to date about the situation,” she added, explaining that digitalisation minister Stéphanie Obertin would preside over the meetings of the crisis unit.

“Cybersecurity must be taken seriously,” Frieden had said on Thursday afternoon. “A country must be well prepared and must continue to prepare itself. However, according to my information, Luxembourg is well prepared to fend off such threats.”

The ministry said that the cyberattack on the government’s websites has been identified as a so-called ‘denial-of-service’ attack, where perpetrators flood their target’s resources to render their systems incapable of fulfilling legitimate requests from users.

Asked about the potential origin and motive behind the attack, the ministry spokesperson said “an analysis is ongoing,” and said more information would be communicated once the issue is resolved.

Asked about rumours circulating on X that Russian hackers were at the origin of the attack, Luxembourg’s government denied any link between the attack and the country’s stance on Russia and Ukraine, the Luxemburger Wort was told.

“Cybersecurity must be taken seriously,” Frieden said in Brussels. “A country must be well prepared and must continue to prepare itself. However, according to my information, Luxembourg is well prepared to fend off such threats.”

(This article was updated on 22 March with comments from Luc Frieden.)