Swiss defense chief says hackers targeted his ministry

BERLIN – Switzerland's defense minister says his department was targeted by hackers in January and is indicating that the motive was industrial espionage.

Guy Parmelin was quoted Wednesday as telling the daily Tages-Anzeiger that the cyberattack happened while he was at the World Economic Forum in Davos in late January. He said that "we were able to act against it and continue to function."

Parmelin didn't specify who was behind the attack. Tages-Anzeiger reported, without naming sources, that the incident is believed to be connected to a cyberattack on defense technology company Ruag — owned by the Swiss government — that is suspected to be linked to Russia.

Parmelin told the newspaper that "the attacks served industrial espionage."