Department of Lands and Surveys

Summary

A cyber attack disrupted the Department of Lands and Surveys' online portal, forcing the postponement of scheduled property transaction appointments and causing operational downtime. The department attributed the incident to technical issues impacting website functionality and apologized for public inconvenience, committing to notify affected citizens once services could resume following resolution.

Motives

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TTPs

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Description

On or around March 9, 2023, the Τμήμα Κτηματολογίου και Χωρομετρίας (Department of Lands and Surveys) of Cyprus experienced technical disruptions affecting its online "Πύλη Κτηματολογίου" (Cadastre Portal) website. The incident caused immediate operational impacts, forcing the department to postpone scheduled property transaction appointments at Provincial Cadastral Offices on March 9 and March 10, 2023. Officials announced the disruption via a Ministry of Interior publication on March 8, attributing the service suspension to unspecified technical problems observed on the portal. The department committed to directly notifying affected citizens about rescheduled appointments once the issues were resolved, though no restoration timeline was provided beyond a promise to issue a new announcement upon reactivation. Both the Department and Ministry issued public apologies for the inconvenience caused to citizens. Subsequent reporting by the Cyprus Mail on March 12, 2023, characterized the website malfunctions as resulting from a "cyber attack," though no technical details regarding the attack vector, threat actor origins, or forensic findings were disclosed in available sources.

The service interruption disrupted core real estate transaction processing across Cyprus, requiring cancellation of all scheduled cadastral appointments during the two-day period. While the department confirmed plans to restore online functionality after addressing the technical complications, no information was released regarding additional containment measures, forensic investigations, or system modifications. The Cyprus Mail's cyber attack attribution contrasted with the government's initial "technical problems" characterization, but neither source provided evidence confirming data compromise, ransomware involvement, or attacker motives. Operational recovery efforts focused exclusively on portal restoration and appointment rescheduling, with no disclosures regarding potential data breaches, financial losses, or secondary impacts on property registration workflows. Citizen communications emphasized service restoration priorities rather than technical incident details, reflecting a containment approach centered on maintaining administrative continuity for cadastral operations.

Sources

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