The International Criminal Court (ICC) says hackers have its systems in their crosshairs once again, roughly two years after being targeted by an espionage group.
The ICC has described the attack, which occurred late last week, as “a sophisticated and targeted cyber security incident”, but refrained from providing further details.
The court, based in The Hague, says its alert and response mechanisms immediately detected the intrusion, which was confirmed and contained promptly.
“A Court-wide impact analysis is being carried out, and steps are already being taken to mitigate any effects of the incident,” the ICC said.
“The Court considers it essential to inform the public and its States Parties about such incidents as well as efforts to address them, and calls for continued support in the face of such challenges,” it added.
In 2023, the ICC scrambled for weeks to recover from a cybersecurity incident that forced it to cut its systems off the internet.
The court described the intrusion as “a targeted and sophisticated attack with the objective of espionage”, likely meant to undermine its mandate, but never shared information on the threat actor responsible.
The fresh attack occurred just as NATO leaders, including US President Donald Trump, were gathering in The Hague for a summit, and at a time the court is handling various high-profile cases, including arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Hamas leader Ibrahim ‘Deif’ Al-Masri.
In early June, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against four ICC judges, in response to the court’s investigation into the US’s actions in Afghanistan and the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former chief of defense, Yoav Gallant.
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