International Criminal Court detected intrusion into its information systems

The International Criminal Court said on 19 September 2023 that its services had detected anomalous activity affecting its information systems at the end of the previous week. The court, which sits in The Hague, said immediate measures were adopted to respond to the cybersecurity incident and to mitigate its impact.

The ICC released no detail about what the intruders reached. A spokesperson told BleepingComputer that no further information could be provided at that stage, and the court said its priority was ensuring it could continue its work. It did not say whether any data had been accessed or removed.

Dutch authorities assisted with the response, the Netherlands being the court's host state, and the ICC thanked them for their cooperation and immediate support. The court said it continued to analyse and mitigate the impact of the incident, and that it would strengthen its cyber security framework and accelerate its adoption of cloud technology.

The intrusion came while the ICC was investigating alleged war crimes in Ukraine, six months after it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Dutch intelligence had previously disrupted an attempt by a Russian officer to enter the court in 2022 under cover as a Brazilian intern. In statements issued the following month, the court described the September intrusion as a targeted and sophisticated attack whose objective was espionage.