The International Criminal Court disclosed that it had detected a “new, sophisticated and targeted cybersecurity incident” which has since been contained.

The ICC is an intergovernmental organisation that handles international crimes such as genocide and war crimes, based in the Netherlands, and faced the incident last week.

The incident was “swiftly” dealt with and contained through the Court’s alert and response mechanisms. The Court is also carrying out steps to mitigate affects of the incident, and is conducting a Court-wide impact analysis.

The Court is calling for “continued support” in the face of the incident.

“Such support ensures the Court’s capacity to implement its critical mandate of justice and accountability, which is a shared responsibility of all States Parties,” the ICC said.

The ICC also said that the new incident was “the second of this type” the court faced, alluding to a cybersecurity incident that took place in 2023.

In this instance, the ICC confirmed that the “targeted and sophisticated attack” had the “objective of espionage.” The ICC has yet to make the same claim about the recent cyber incident that took place last week.

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The 2023 incident still has yet to be attributed to any group or nation.

The ICC’s high international profile does make it an obvious target for the several nations and leaders facing investigations or convictions.

Among these include an ongoing investigation into Russia over alleged war crimes in its continued invasion of Ukraine, an arrest warrant against President Vladimir Putin, as well as an arrest warrant for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of its investigations into Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

The ICC is also investigation several other nations and leaders across the globe, and dealing with allegations of war crimes. It amasses a high volume of sensitive data, making it a prime target for nation-state threat actors and ransomware gangs alike.