From the BBC:  The EU has reported a "serious" cyber attack on the Commission and External Action Service on the eve [3/23] of a summit in Brussels, a spokesman told the BBC. …

"We’re often hit by cyber attacks but this is a big one," one source said.

The European Commission has been assessing the scale of the current threat and, in order to prevent the "disclosure of unauthorised information", has shut down external access to e-mail and the institutions’ intranet.

Staff have been asked to change their passwords. …

"The Commission and External Advisory Service are subject to a serious cyber attack," Antony Gravili, the spokesman for the inter-institutional relations and administration commissioner, told the BBC News website.

From the AP:  It is not the first cyber attack the EU has faced, but because of the nature of the threat, the EU had never taken precautionary action on such a scale.  (graphic: Matt Murphy/Economist) (via the Streit Council)

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