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Hackers publish Baden city data on darknet

The city of Baden in northern Switzerland.
According to NZZ, a backup copy of Baden's central database was hacked. The city authorities have not received a ransom demand. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Hackers have published large amounts of data from the Swiss city of Baden on the darknet, it has been confirmed.

NZZ online first reported the data theft on Monday. Data from the city of Baden, located in northern Switzerland, has been available for download on a hacker forum since last week, including tables with the names and addresses of residents.

In addition to partially public data, such as the city’s budget from 2013 to 2023, the NZZ reported the release of sensitive information, such as parts of accounts and a list of people who have been cremated.

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“The data leak probably comes from an older security gap. We have closed various security gaps and taken security measures in the last few months,” said Nicole Meier Doka, a spokesperson for the city of Baden.

According to NZZ, a back-up copy of the city’s central database was hacked. The city authorities have not received a ransom demand.

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Investigations are currently underway into how the hackers got the data, Meier said. It remains unclear whether data from the city of Aarau is also affected. In 2019, the two largest cities in Aargau merged their IT systems.

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