Swiss SIX says hacks spiked at start of Russia invasion of Ukraine

ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss stock exchange operator SIX saw an increase in hacker attacks around the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month, its chief executive Jos Dijsselhof said on Wednesday.

“We have seen some higher activity at the beginning of the war or even just before the war. And now it’s more and more getting back to business as usual,” Dijsselhof said during a news briefing on SIX’s results.

“The attacks from the Russian side are probably a bit lower now because they are busy with many other things,” he added.

Russia has repeatedly been accused of hacks against other countries. Moscow has denied the allegations.

The financial infrastructure group has invested in IT security in recent years in order to be prepared for attacks.

SIX, which operates the Swiss and Spanish exchanges said it had stepped up surveillance measures, increased staff and raised the alert level at the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Paul Arnold, writing by Michael Shields, editing by Alexander Smith)