Ragnar Locker ransomware gang claims to target Belgian municipality, hits police instead

On Wednesday 16^th of November 2022, the Ragnar Locker ransomware gang released a posting on their TOR data leak site where they claimed to have stolen data from the municipality of Zwijndrecht. However, it was discovered that the stolen data was from Zwijndrecht police, a local police unit in Antwerp, Belgium. The leaked data reportedly exposed thousands of car number plates, fines, crime report files, personnel details, investigation reports, and more.

Zwijndrecht police have responded to the coverage by local media by downplaying the impact of the incident and stating that the threat actors only accessed a part of the network where the police held administrative data. The country’s data protection office has not yet announced an investigation on the case, but the prosecutor opened a criminal proceeding that focuses on the incident itself.

“It is not the case that all data has been leaked. This network mainly contains personal information from our staff, such as personnel lists and photos from personnel parties.” – Zwijndrecht police.