International Criminal Court hit by major cyberattack

The ICC has faced physical security breaches, including a 2022 incident in which Dutch intelligence caught a Russian operative using fake Brazilian credentials to infiltrate the court through an internship.

By Jewish Breaking News

While world leaders gathered at The Hague’s World Forum for NATO’s largest summit ever, hackers were busy targeting the International Criminal Court across town.

Dutch authorities had implemented extensive cybersecurity protocols around critical infrastructure during the June 24-25 NATO gathering, which brought together leaders from 32 member nations and thousands of attendees.

Yet hackers still managed to breach the tribunal’s defenses while the city was under heightened security.

On Monday, the ICC announced that cyber criminals had successfully penetrated its systems last week in what officials called a “sophisticated” and “targeted” attack.

Court Spokesman Fadi El Abdallah told The Associated Press that “all necessary measures have been taken to ensure the business continuity,” though he provided no details about the attack’s scope or potential perpetrators.

Security failures have become a recurring problem for the embattled institution. Russian hackers successfully infiltrated ICC systems in September 2023, remaining undetected for five weeks while conducting what officials later described as an espionage operation aimed at “undermining the Court’s mandate.”

Nearly two years later, the court still hasn’t fully recovered from that attack. WiFi service remains disrupted at ICC headquarters, highlighting the institution’s ongoing struggles with basic technology infrastructure.

Officials never publicly identified who conducted the 2023 breach, despite a criminal investigation by Dutch law enforcement.

Physical security breaches have also plagued the ICC. Dutch intelligence services intercepted a Russian spy operation in 2022, catching an operative with false Brazilian credentials who was attempting to secure an internship position at the court.

In May 2024, the ICC issued warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over “war crimes” in Gaza.

However, significant errors and flawed methodology tainted the “evidence” presented by chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who is currently under investigation for sexual harassment.

According to UK Lawyers for Israel Charitable Trust (UKLFI), The term “famine” used for Gaza in the charges isn’t just dramatic language, but rather a specific scientific classification developed in Somalia in 2004 by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

UKLFI’s report argues that Gaza’s crisis, while “undoubtedly serious,” doesn’t meet these technical standards.

Second, the ICC relied heavily on data from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), a USAID initiative that’s now offline following Trump administration funding freezes.

Third, the report identifies what it calls “inaccurate and anomalous data” about food supplies and malnutrition rates, suggesting that worst-case scenarios were presented as inevitable outcomes rather than possibilities.

Earlier this month, President Trump escalated U.S. pressure on the tribunal, sanctioning Khan and four ICC judges. ICC officials fired back by claiming sanctions harm efforts to provide “hope and justice to millions of victims of unimaginable atrocities.”