Romania's government has confirmed that the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising (ANCPI) was hit by a ransomware attack on July 14, saying part of the institution's IT infrastructure was encrypted and deleted, while stressing that the central cadastral database was not compromised. In a press release issued on July 28, the government said the cyberattack affected part of the virtualisation infrastructure hosting ANCPI's applications but did not impact the central database containing records of properties and real rights over real estate. Authorities did not provide a timetable for restoring full access to the agency's systems.
The government said the central cadastral database remains intact despite the attack. However, it did not explain what leverage the ransomware operators retained if the core data had not been compromised, suggesting that the attack primarily targeted the infrastructure supporting the agency's applications rather than the database itself. The incident has disrupted access to cadastral services since mid-July, affecting property transactions across the country.
The outage has prompted legislative action. The Parliament is considering extending transitional tax rules for residential property transactions after the disruption prevented some buyers from completing the formalities required to qualify for the reduced VAT rate before the existing deadline. According to Digi24, individuals could continue to purchase homes with a 9% VAT rate instead of 21%.
The measure would be extended until October 1, according to a bill adopted by the Senate on Monday, July 27, as the first chamber to be notified. The bill now goes to the Chamber of Deputies for the final vote. Romanian authorities have not disclosed whether a ransom demand was made or whether they have been in contact with the attackers.
The government said efforts to restore the affected systems are continuing but gave no indication of when the agency's full range of digital services will become operational again. iulian@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Motortion/Dreamstime.com)
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