The government of Luxembourg has launched a formal investigation into a major cyberattack that crippled the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure last week. On July 23, an attack caused a nationwide outage lasting more than three hours, rendering 4G and 5G mobile networks completely unavailable. The disruption also extended to internet access and electronic banking services, creating widespread problems for citizens and businesses across the small European country.
According to official statements, the incident was an intentional act of disruption rather than an accidental system failure. Attackers exploited a vulnerability within a “standardised software component” used by POST Luxembourg, the state-owned enterprise that manages most of the national telecom network. While the government has not officially named the supplier, reports from local media indicate the attack targeted software used in Huawei routers. The director-general of POST described the attack as “exceptionally advanced and sophisticated,” clarifying that while it was highly disruptive, it did not compromise internal data.
A primary concern for officials was the public’s inability to contact emergency services during the outage.
The fallback 2G network, which is supposed to handle calls during such events, quickly became overloaded and failed to provide reliable service. Compounding the crisis, the government’s own national alert system, designed to warn the population of such incidents, was also rendered ineffective because it depends on the very same mobile network that had been taken offline, revealing a critical single point of failure.
In response to the crisis, the Luxembourg government has convened a special cell within the High Commission for National Protection (HCPN) to manage the incident’s aftermath. A multi-faceted investigation is now underway, with the national Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) conducting a full forensic analysis to determine the exact mechanics of the attack.
Simultaneously, the public prosecutor is assessing the case to determine if a crime was committed and if a perpetrator can be identified for prosecution.
The attack has served as a powerful catalyst for change, accelerating a national resilience review that was already in progress. Authorities are now urgently reassessing the robustness of all critical infrastructure, with a particular focus on eliminating single points of failure and improving fallback procedures for telecommunications and emergency services. As part of this effort, Luxembourg is exploring regulatory changes that would allow mobile phones to automatically switch to a competitor’s network during an outage to make emergency calls, a protective measure already implemented in other nations.
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