CCDR Algarve hit by cyberattack disrupting email and communications

Incident and immediate response by CCDR Algarve

The Algarve Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR Algarve) was targeted by a cyberattack between Saturday night and Sunday morning. The incident has disrupted the operation of several systems and has led to the temporary unavailability of some of its services.

In a statement, CCDR Algarve says the attack began with unauthorised external access and that, as soon as it was detected, it "immediately activated its internal protocols for incident analysis, response and notification to the competent authorities".

The commission also reports that it put in place steps for "identification, containment and analysis of the origin of the incident" and launched actions aimed at the "mitigation of potential impacts". These measures are intended to reduce the effects of the cyberattack and speed up the recovery of the affected systems.

Services affected: communications and institutional email

CCDR Algarve confirms that, as a result of the incident, "some services are temporarily unavailable, namely communications and access to institutional email", although it has not yet indicated when normal operations will be restored.

The statement adds: "The situation is being monitored by the competent authorities, by CCDR Algarve’s IT services and by specialised technical support teams, in order to restore services as quickly as possible".

What is still unknown and next updates

So far, the organisation has not disclosed the nature of the attack or clarified whether any personal data or institutional information was accessed. It has only said that enquiries are under way to determine the origin of the incident and assess its impact.

CCDR Algarve has pledged to release further information "as soon as there are relevant developments" regarding the cyberattack and the full restoration of services.