Hackers broke into a database belonging to the European Central Bank and attempted to use the breach to extort cash from the institution.

"There had been a breach of the security protecting a database" serving the public website, the Frankfurt-based ECB said. "This led to the theft of email addresses and other contact data left by people registering for events at the ECB. No internal systems or market-sensitive data were compromised."

The breach is the first time hackers have succeeded in accessing non-public data at the central bank. Credit:Bloomberg

The ECB received an email on July 21 requesting an unspecified amount of money for the data, which contained all or part of a file of about 20,000 names and contact details of people who had previously signed up for ECB conferences, press briefings or other events, an ECB spokesman said. The ECB said the German police have been informed and an investigation has been started.

Frankfurt prosecutors are investigating the incident, office spokeswoman Doris Moeller-Scheu said.

The security violation comes less than four months before the ECB takes over a new role as the top banking supervisor for the euro area, a task that will involve managing more sensitive data than ever before. The breach is the first time hackers have succeeded in accessing non-public data at the central bank.

"Large financial organizations like the ECB inevitably attract people who are going to try to hack them," Sean Sullivan, a security adviser at Helsinki-based F-Secure Oyj, said. "If you manage to extract market-relevant information you'd have some very valuable commodities that you could sell on to private parties or nation states."

Bloomberg