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Red Cross aid convoy in Syria (archive image)
Photo: Icrc/ dpa
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has become the target of a serious cyber attack. Hackers captured the data of more than 515,000 people on Wednesday, according to the ICRC. This data, from around 60 national Red Cross and Red Crescent agencies around the world, included details of "highly vulnerable" people. Among other things, it is about missing people, prisoners or people who have been separated from their families due to conflicts, migration or disasters.
The ICRC expressed concern that this data could become public or be misused.
This makes the anguish and suffering of families even more unbearable and poses an even greater risk to vulnerable people, said ICRC director-general Robert Mardini.
"We are appalled and perplexed that this humanitarian information has been attacked and compromised."
According to the information, the information was tapped from an external company in Switzerland where the ICRC stored data.
So far, there is no information about the hackers or the background to the cyber attack.
So far there is no evidence that the tapped data has already been published.
Mardini appealed to the perpetrators not to pass on the data in the future.
'Please do the right thing.
Do not share, sell, circulate or use this data.«
According to its self-description, the International Committee of the Red Cross protects and assists people affected by armed conflict;
it also works to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law.
The ICRC was founded in 1863 and, according to its own statements, now employs around 20,000 people in more than a hundred countries.
It operates worldwide, with the ICRC headquarters in Geneva.
aar/dpa