Philips Electronics said on Thursday it is cooperating with the police in connection with an investigation into a possible criminal cyber security breach discovered at Philips earlier this month.

Philips said on February 14 that it had shut down one of its servers the previous day due to a possible cyber attack, and that it was investigating the nature and extent of the information that might have been accessed.

At the time, a company spokesman could not confirm whether any personal customer information or sensitive company data were put at risk.

While we are aware that there are claims on the Internet about information obtained, we are investigating the nature and extent of potential information exposure, the spokesman said on Thursday.

Because of the potentially criminal nature of activity described in the public claims about this event, Philips is collaborating with law enforcement, he said.

The Dutch consumer electronics, lighting and healthcare group had said on February 14 that some of its small websites used for marketing might have been hacked. Philips said the compromised server was shut down within an hour of the company becoming aware of the event.

(Reporting by Roberta B. Cowan; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)

Cybercrime Malware