Hack exposes data on 515,000 vulnerable people, Red Cross says

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is best known for helping war victims, says hackers broke into servers hosting its data and gained access to personal, confidential information on more than a half-million vulnerable people.

The Geneva-based agency said Wednesday the breach by unknown intruders this week affected data about some 515,000 people “including those separated from their families due to conflict, migration and disaster, missing persons and their families, and people in detention.” It said the information originated in at least 60 Red Cross and Red Crescent chapters around the world.

“An attack on the data of people who are missing makes the anguish and suffering for families even more difficult to endure,” Robert Mardini, the ICRC’s director-general, said in a statement. “We are all appalled and perplexed that this humanitarian information would be targeted and compromised.”