The foreign ministry characterised the incident as a “virus attack” but said computer systems were targeted with the intent of gathering specific information.The extent of the breach is unknown and officials did not say what information was targeted. They are still trying to track down the source of the attack.

The hack was apparently designed not to be noticed. It was discovered on Thursday by specialists at the foreign ministry and at software giant Microsoft. The foreign ministry has cut the network’s connection to the internet.

“Within the federal administration we have access and could always send and receive emails. But we still don’t have access to the internet,” spokesman Georg Farago told. Employees are also unable to access the ministry’s intranet from outside their offices.

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