The Bianlian ransomware gang has struck again in Switzerland – this time targeting the department of education in Basel.

Hackers have published data from the Basel Department of Education on the dark web, canton officials announced this morning.

It is not the first time Swiss public services have been hacked and is likely not the last, security experts say.

About one year ago, hackers attacked two medical clinics in the canton of Neuchâtel after threatening to publish patients’ personal data if certain ransoms were not paid. Those hackers created an online countdown ticking down the hours until 43,651 medical files were disseminated on the darknet, as the medical centers refused to negotiate with the hackers.

More on the Basel case

Basel canton is currently analyzing which schools have been affected. The hackers published several data packages with a total volume of about 1.2 terabytes on the darknet, the education department announced on Wednesday.

The data was uploaded by the BianLian ransomware gang, a Basel education spokesperson told Keystone-SDA. Last fall, the same gang published data on Swiss chocolatier Läderach.

It is unclear if the data is sensitive according to Basel officials, but they do know a single computer in the department was hacked in January with the aim of extorting money from the education department.

Officials from the department told Keystone-SDA that they did not respond to the blackmail. For now, the Basel-Stadt canton has filed a complaint against the hackers with the Swiss public prosecutor’s office.

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