Ministry of the Interior reported a cyberattack on its system. Rakušan did not rule out foreign power involvement

The Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic has detected a serious cyberattack on its system, which was subsequently disconnected from the network. According to Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN), the incident did not lead to the leakage of personal data or important or classified information. Critical infrastructure systems, such as those of the Czech Police or the Fire and Rescue Service, were also not affected. During a press briefing held on Thursday at noon, Rakušan did not rule out the possible involvement of a foreign state. This was reported by the news website ČT24 and the ministry itself on the social network X. The police are already investigating the incident.

Possible involvement of a foreign power is not ruled out

The cyberattack was detected by the Ministry of the Interior’s own staff during a standard check. According to Rakušan, it was not ransomware, i.e., a type of attack where data is stolen with a subsequent demand for ransom. „I want to assure you that this matter does not concern the systems of the Czech Police, nor the Fire and Rescue Service, nor key state registers,“ Minister Rakušan stated at the press conference, according to ČT24. For security reasons, however, he did not specify what exact information was managed in the attacked system.

The Ministry of the Interior is now intensively cooperating with intelligence services, the National Centre against Terrorism, Extremism and Cybercrime, and the National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NÚKIB), which is thoroughly analyzing the entire situation. „One of the possible variants is the involvement of a foreign state actor,“ Rakušan added, stating that due to the ongoing investigation, he cannot disclose when exactly the attack occurred.

⚠️ @vnitro odhalilo závažný kyberincident v IT systému resortu. Systém, do kterého se dostal útočník bez oprávnění, byl odpojen a nedošlo k odcizení dat.@NUKIB_CZ incident důkladně prověřuje, jednou z variant je zapojení cizí státní moci. Více informací zatím nelze zveřejnit.⬇️… pic.twitter.com/fLmUovURGM

— Ministerstvo vnitra (@vnitro) July 10, 2025

The Police of the Czech Republic confirmed on the social network X that their criminal investigators are dealing with the case. „Our criminal investigators are dealing with the cyberattack on the Ministry of the Interior. We are currently ascertaining the circumstances of this attack and evaluating potential risks and measures with our partners,“ stated the Czech Police in their post.

Naši kriminalisté se zabývají kybernetickým útokem na Ministerstvo vnitra. Aktuálně zjišťujeme okolnosti tohoto útoku a s partnery vyhodnocujeme případná rizika a opatření. #policiepp https://t.co/NKqAoqrqZQ

— Policie ČR (@PolicieCZ) July 10, 2025

Election systems remained unaffected

An important piece of information is that systems related to the parliamentary elections, which are specially secured according to the Minister of the Interior, were also not attacked. „I can assure you that the election process will not be affected by this incident in any way,“ Rakušan emphasized. Given the upcoming elections to the lower house of parliament, this is a key message.

The Ministry of the Interior assures that all systems are now functioning normally, as are the services provided to citizens. However, the situation is continuously monitored and analyzed by the relevant security forces. „Despite the high standard of security, the Ministry of the Interior is taking all necessary steps to further strengthen it. A detailed analysis is currently underway,“ the ministry stated on the X platform.

Sources: ČT24, Czech Police/X