19/06/2023
An attack on a data centre in Bern has affected the IT infrastructures of several companies. The Soliswiss Cooperative is among those affected by the cyber-attack. According to our IT service provider, some data was stolen from them, though our cooperative has not been affected as of today.
The data centre of our IT service provider was hit by a cyber-attack over Whitsun. Our IT service provider reacted immediately and took all customer systems offline as a precaution. As a result, we are currently only accessible via website and e-mail to a limited extent. As a result, from 28th May to 15th June 2023 we were unavailable via our regular soliswiss.ch e-mail addresses. All other information channels were also offline. According to our IT service provider, it is unclear whether there was an outflow of our data. As of today, data from other data centre customers was stolen and published, but not from our cooperative. Furthermore, our payment and telephone systems are not in the network in question and have not been affected.
We have decided to communicate promptly and transparently. As soon as we were able and as early as Wednesday, 31st May 2023, we published an announcement regarding the cyber-attack on our website www.soliswiss.ch, the official communication organ of the cooperative. We did this in the knowledge that, unfortunately, we would not be able to reach all members.
On Friday, 2nd June 2023, we informed the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner about a potential data leak as a precautionary measure. There is still no absolute certainty that no data from our cooperative has been leaked. If we receive any indications of a possible data leak, we will inform you immediately via our website.
As Soliswiss, we have supported the livelihoods of Swiss people abroad since 1958, but this is the first such incident in the history of our cooperative. We are not profit-oriented, but focus on being useful. We spend a considerable part of our budget on IT, as data security is a major concern for us.
It is currently impossible to say with certainty that no data has been leaked, hence we would like to ask you to be vigilant in the near future. If you receive an e-mail from us and you are not sure whether it is actually from us, please call us as a precaution.
An event like this causes high costs and has a strong impact on a cooperative with a modest budget like us. We will do our utmost to be there for you again as soon as possible and thank you all for your understanding.