A Heartless Cybercrime – People Seeking Missing Family Data Exposed

Cybercrime comes in all forms, and day by day, it advances to reach new heights in terms of ways to harvest data and sensitive information. From hacking big companies to injecting trojans, there are endless forms of malicious cyber acts.

However, targeting money is one thing, and becoming insensitive and heartless is another. Lately, a cyberattack on a Red Cross contactor resulted in the theft of personal data belonging to people seeking missing family data.

The program goes by the name of “Restoring Family Links,” and instead of worrying about helping reunite families separated by migration, war, and disaster, the ICRC now has to worry about the harvested data.

That’s a new low, even in the cybercrime industry. As painful as this is, we’re here to shed more light on the matter. Make sure to go through this comprehensive article.

ICRC Cyber Attack – When a Red Line is Crossed

Targetting companies and victims with online vulnerabilities is a pretty common strategy among threat actors. However, when they target people that are vulnerable in real life, that’s when they’re really crossing the line.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – a contractor in Switzerland that was storing the data for the humanitarian organization confirmed a hit by a sophisticated cyberattack.

This Red Cross data breach by unknown intruders this week affected the data of about 515,000 people. No not the wealthy, but the ones who’ve lost family members due to migration, disaster, or conflict.

Normally, the website allows family members to submit requests for aid in seeking missing family members. Now, the entire operation is shut down, which directly affects those poor families.

According to ICRC’s director-general Robert Mardini:

“An attack on the data of people who are missing makes the anguish and suffering for families even more difficult to endure.”

So far, ICRC doesn’t know the real identity of the ones who committed such a terrible act. Not only that, but the company doesn’t even know if they leaked or shared the data publically.

When it comes to such insensitive acts, one must always look for what’s best for the affected party. It’s a fight that cannot be won unless they put the families first. That’s why Robert Mardini had this appeal to make to them:

“Your actions could potentially cause yet more harm and pain to those who have already endured untold suffering. The real people, the real families behind the information you now have are among the world’s least powerful. Please do the right thing. Do not share, sell, leak or otherwise use this data.”

Sharing the data can harm a lot of people who have already suffered enough. Hackers always have their own targets, but this one is “going too far.” They’re literally crippling the ICRC’s ability to reunite separated family members.

Red Cross Data Breach – Inhumanity at its Best

The Red Cross reunites an average of 12 missing people a day with their families. Such cyber-attacks can jeopardize that essential work.

The organization had never before experienced a hack of a similar scale, which shows how hackers are now losing their conscience when it comes to selecting their targets.

This isn’t showing off your hacking ability anymore, it’s plain inhumanity. To all our readers, make sure you take the necessary actions to protect your data at all costs. Apparently, hackers are going to great lengths now to harvest information.