Cyber Incident Victim: Centre public d'Action sociale de Waterloo
Date:
Oct 2023
Location:
Belgium
Summary
The CPAS Waterloo experienced a cybersecurity incident when an alert was triggered on one of its devices, prompting the organization to take its systems offline for nearly 24 hours to investigate, monitor, and restore operations. The federal Cyber Emergency Response Team (Cert) confirmed no administrative or personal data was compromised, attributing this outcome to effective firewall protections and the entity's prompt response. While the attack caused temporary operational disruption, the Cert provided recommendations for future improvements, and the organization plans to conduct audits to strengthen its defenses further.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On October 17, 2023, the Centre public d’Action sociale de Waterloo (CPAS Waterloo) experienced a cybersecurity incident when an alert was triggered on one of its peripheral devices. The organization’s president, Raphaël Szuma, confirmed the attack necessitated immediate isolation of systems to prevent further compromise. CPAS Waterloo disconnected its network for approximately 24 hours to conduct monitoring, verification, and phased restoration of services. The federal Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) was notified promptly following the detection of the intrusion. Initial analysis indicated the attack did not result in unauthorized access to administrative or personal data, attributed to the effectiveness of existing firewall protections. The disruption paralyzed CPAS operations for nearly a full day, impacting service delivery during the outage.
CERT’s assessment validated CPAS Waterloo’s defensive measures and incident response actions, though the agency provided additional recommendations for enhancing future resilience. Szuma characterized the outcome as fortunate, emphasizing no data exfiltration occurred despite the severity of the attack. The incident prompted plans for internal audits to identify potential security improvements across CPAS systems and protocols. Operational recovery was completed within the 24-hour window, with services fully restored following verification of system integrity. The organization acknowledged the attack’s disruptive impact but reported no long-term data compromise or legal breaches attributable to the event.