The European Commission has confirmed that its central systems were targeted in the Europe Cyberattack, which may have exposed personal details of staff members. The intrusion was detected on 30 January 2026 within systems used to manage employee mobile phones and tablets through Mobile Device Management software.
Mobile Device Management systems allow large organizations to control applications, enforce security settings, and manage updates across many devices at once. In this case, the Commission stated that its central mobile infrastructure was compromised, though the specific software provider was not named.
Critical Software Flaws Linked To Intrusion
The incident occurred one day after warnings were issued about two critical vulnerabilities in Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile. The flaws, tracked as CVE 2026 1281 and CVE 2026 1340, involve code injection weaknesses.
Code injection vulnerabilities allow attackers to send malicious commands to a vulnerable server. If exploited, the system may execute those commands as if they were legitimate instructions. Such weaknesses highlight how the Europe Cyberattack could enable remote control of the affected server without requiring valid login credentials.
Security researchers noted that such flaws can be especially serious in centralized management systems. If attackers gain access to the control infrastructure, they may view sensitive administrative data or manipulate device configurations.
Despite the breach of the central system, the Commission stated that no compromise of employee mobile devices was detected. While names and phone numbers may have been exposed, there was no evidence that individual phones or tablets were directly accessed.
The Commission reported that it secured and cleaned the affected systems within nine hours of detecting the intrusion. Rapid containment is often critical in limiting further access or lateral movement within enterprise networks.
Similar vulnerabilities have also affected other public sector organizations in Europe. Authorities in the Netherlands and Finland have reported related incidents. In Finland, a government agency indicated that a breach could affect up to 50,000 users. Independent monitoring groups have identified dozens of servers worldwide that may have been exposed through the same software weaknesses.
Response Measures And Security Review
The incident comes shortly after the introduction of the Cybersecurity Act 2.0 on 20 January, a framework designed to strengthen digital resilience across European institutions. In the wake of the Europe Cyberattack, agencies responsible for monitoring threats continue to operate around the clock to detect and respond to suspicious activity.
The Commission has stated that it will conduct a full review of the incident to assess how the intrusion occurred and to improve future safeguards. Security experts have emphasized the importance of timely patch management and consistent update processes when dealing with critical vulnerabilities.
David Neeson, Deputy SOC Team Lead at Barrier Networks, commented on the situation, noting that while no major operational impact has been reported, the flaws raise concerns about how Endpoint Manager Mobile deployments are maintained and updated. He highlighted that patch management across different software versions can present operational challenges, particularly when updates are fragmented or version specific.
Neeson added that attacks exploiting such vulnerabilities often rely on speed, targeting systems before patches are fully applied across all deployments. He stressed that organizations using affected software should ensure that all relevant updates are implemented promptly.
The Commission continues to monitor its systems as part of its ongoing cybersecurity response, with a focus on containment, investigation, and strengthening defenses against future threats linked to the Europe Cyberattack.
