Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Ransomware attackers demand $400,000 from Swiss website

Comparis website offline
The comparis website was disabled by ransomware attackers. swissinfo.ch

A popular Swiss price comparison website has been shut down by ransomware attackers demanding $400,000 (CHF370,000) in cryptocurrencies to put it back online.

Comparis.ch, which racks up around 80 million visits a year, is used by consumers to compare prices on the likes of insurance and mortgage deals. The attack started on Wednesday and by Thursday had shut down the website, although the company said in a statement that it believed that no customer data was breached.

By Friday, after this article was first published, Comparis said the website was back in operation. A Comparis spokesman told SWI swissinfo.ch that no ransom was paid.

The identity or location of the cyber attacker is not known and the ransom demand took the form of a URL implanted in a secure area of the IT system.

Ransomware attacks appear to be getting more frequent and with greater success worldwide.

High profile cases have also been making headlines: for example, when thousands of companies worldwide, including a supermarket chain in Sweden, were paralysed by a recent attack on United States IT services provider Kaseya.

US oil and gas company Colonial Pipeline was hit in May and had to pay a bitcoin ransom to get supplies back online, although the FBI said it had since recovered most of the cryptocurrency that was paid.

Last month, the world’s largest meat processor, JBL, faced major disruption to its operations before paying a ransom demand.

In Switzerland, rail company Stadler was attacked last year and suffered confidential data being made public because it refused to pay up.

Last week, the Swiss Federal Office for Energy released a report that found several electricity providers remain vulnerable to cyberattacks, despite efforts to beef up IT defences.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

No Swiss bank in phase with environmental objectives

More

Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF

This content was published on None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.

Read more: Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF
UNRWA provides emergency assistance to just over one million Palestine refugees, or about 75 per cent of all Palestine refugees in Gaza, who lack the financial means to cover their basic food.

More

Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

This content was published on The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.

Read more: Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR