The Walloon Public Service (SPW) is commencing the first phase of restoring its IT systems on Tuesday following a cyberattack on April 17.
In a statement, the SPW described a "monumental effort" and "exceptional mobilisation" of its teams and partners to analyse the intrusion and strengthen the security of its IT environment, which comprises over 800 applications, 10,000 PCs, and thousands of servers.
On Tuesday, foundational and cross-functional applications, such as authentication tools like MaWallonie, data storage solutions like mapping tools, and external data exchange platforms such as the national registry and cadastre, will be reconnected.
This critical step will enable the SPW to reconnect its Geoportal. This tool is vital internally for permit management and externally for numerous partners, including municipalities, notaries, and architects.
The initial restoration phase will start to benefit other partners, including Forem—enabling the creation of titres-services accounts and online access for job seekers—and TEC, facilitating the online creation of subscriptions. Additionally, several thematic portals and a network of sites will come back online, as noted by the SPW.
A second phase of restoration is scheduled for about a week from now, and the SPW anticipates this stage will have more noticeable impacts for users.
As a result of the attack, the region had to take all government services offline. Other services such as town planning, environmental permits and the management of European subsidies were all still affected, but not completely paralysed.
