On Wednesday, an a pro-privacy account called “Orwell Day” shared a video on X-formerly-Twitter of a man discovering a Flock license plate reader embedded inside an otherwise innocent roadside speedometer. Operated by the local Sheriff’s department, the device was cleverly hidden to be undetectable to approaching road and pedestrian traffic.

“What lurks on the back of it?” the man behind the camera asks as he approaches the device. “Look at that. Someone did some custom metal fabricating and decided to put a Flock camera, a mobile one, anywhere they want to put it, in the speedometer.”

Hacker wipes European country’s entire land registry database, paralyzing real-estate market
One security firm has already doxxed the crook behind the cyberattack.
https://cybernews.com/security/hacker-deletes-romanian-land-registry-database/?utm_source=cn_facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=cybernews&utm_content=post&source=cn_facebook&medium=social&campaign=cybernews&content=post&fbclid=IwVERDUATMQHpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR6zgtoCp7mLKujn-0UEBJJqiOpGrd_RQRzLHp9I4lMGev-Z1TrZ8xR1B-DLBw_aem_JlhZugDABWBejS9JVy1A5Q

Key takeaways:
A hacker deleted Romania’s entire land registry database after a failed extortion attempt, paralyzing the real-estate market
The attack halted all property transactions, preventing notaries from authenticating sales or registering mortgages nationwide
It appears, though, that Romania’s cadastre agency has had an offline copy of the wiped data
Critics still point out that the perpetrator of the cyberattack had ample openings since the ANCPI hasn’t actually been investing much in cybersecurity.

Hackers can get very angry when they don’t get their way. That’s what happened in Romania when a crook wiped the country’s entire land registry database after an unsuccessful extortion attempt. Poor cyber hygiene didn’t help, either.

First, the hacker breached Romania’s cadastre agency, the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising (ANCPI), posting on a hacking forum: “[RO] Thy arss shall be spanked, Romania! [ANCPI]”

“In addition to the data of Romanian citizens, from various databases collected through ANCPI networks, there is also a copy of the GitLab servers containing the source code of all their systems, such as Eterra, RENNS, as well as a version of my little ransomware program,” the announcement continued.

Real-estate market stands still

“The official government website announced a shutdown of IT systems due to ‘technical problems,’ but this is a bit of an understatement. An offer of assistance was made, but without insistence or pressure.”

Indeed, the ANCPI initially claimed technical issues but had to admit it was facing a cyberattack. Today, no one can really access the institution’s systems.

The hack has brought Romania’s entire real-estate market to a standstill, Risky Business points out.

Notaries cannot record new transactions while citizens can’t obtain proof of ownership or detailed land records. And Romania is no small fish: on average, between 150,000 and 170,000 residential real estate units are sold annually across the country.

One notary, Ana Stan, said online: “I am a notary. Since Tuesday, I cannot issue a land registry extract, I cannot authenticate a sale, I cannot register a mortgage.”

“Contrary to some information appearing in the public space, at the time of the incident, the ANCPI had several locations designated for storing backup copies, a measure that ensures redundancy and the possibility of data restoration in the event of cybersecurity incidents,” the press release says.

Critics point out that the perpetrator of the cyberattack had ample openings since the ANCPI hasn’t actually been investing much in cybersecurity

The agency’s director Dan Cîmpean even claimed that the cyberattack against the ANCPI wasn’t too complex and could definitely have been prevented. Plus, the DNSC explained, the hacker exploited “vulnerabilities that we had notified them about quite recently.”

For the government, timing is pretty sensitive. The cyberattack hit the ANCPI precisely in the last weeks when homes can still be purchased with a 9% VAT. The tax for new homes increases to 21% from August 1st onwards.