Argentina hack reveals data on thousands of Swiss travellers

Some 11,000 Swiss citizens have had their data illegally made public by Argentinian hackers after blackmail demands were not met. The hackers published passport data of tens of thousands of people worldwide.

Swiss public broadcaster SRF reports that the data was hacked from the Argentinian immigration office. The thieves published reams of personal data on the Darknet – an underground version of the internet – because the authorities refused to meet their ransom demands.

The data includes names, dates of birth, passport numbers and travel destinations of a multitude of people who had travelled to Argentina between January and mid-March. The list is also believed to contain some 12,000 Germans, including diplomats, and citizens of Israel and France.

The Swiss foreign ministry told SRF that it was aware of the ransom attack and was in contact with the Argentinian authorities.

According to research by the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation, the hackers had demanded some $4 million (CHF3.6 million) to stop the data from being published.