Cyber attack on International Criminal Court in The Hague; Hackers stole sensitive docs

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague fell victim to a cyber attack last week, the court confirmed in a statement after reporting by NOS. A source told the broadcaster that the hackers gained access to a large number of sensitive documents, but an ICC spokesperson would not confirm that.

The spokesperson told NOS that the ICC was investigating the attack in collaboration with the Dutch authorities. Part of that investigation is determining whether a foreign government was behind the attack.

In the statement released after NOS broke the story, the ICC said that it took immediate measures to minimize the consequences of the cyberattack and that it appreciated that the Netherlands was helping with that. It said it was working to improve its cyber security.

The ICC did not provide any further details about the extent of the attack or what type of cyber attack it was.

Dozens of countries agreed to establish the ICC in 2002. The permanent international court investigates genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, and has the authority to prosecute suspects across borders.

The information the ICC has stored can be very sensitive given the size of the crimes it investigates. Those wishing to illicitly access the data could do so for a variety of reasons, like trying to determine whether the court is investigating them, or which witnesses are speaking with the court.