The European Commission got hacked for the second time this year

The European Commission – the same regulatory body that slaps big fines on tech heavyweights like Apple and Meta and issues AI safety guidelines – was hacked in March, with attackers stealing a ton of data.

In a blog post detailing the attack, the EC said it had discovered a cyber attack on its Europa.eu platform on March 24. "Immediate steps" were taken to contain the attack, which is why the Europa websites remained operational. Internal systems of the EC were not affected by the cyberattack, and the EC says it would continue to "continue to monitor the situation and take all necessary measures to ensure the security of its internal systems and data."

The EC also said that data has been taken from its Europa websites, without going into further detail.

However, BleepingComputer claims the breach affected at least one of the EC's Amazon Web Services (AWS) accounts, with hackers telling the outlet they got away with over 350GB of data, including "multiple databases." The hackers also said they will not attempt to extort the EC for the stolen data but will leak it online "at a later date."

The Europa.eu sites are a comprehensive homepage for the European Union, featuring news as well as information on the EU's laws, policies, and institutions. It's unclear whether any personal information was stolen in the breach.

This is the second cyberattack the European Commission has disclosed this year. In January, the EC said hackers breached its central infrastructure for managing mobile devices, acquiring staff names and some of their mobile phone numbers.