LuxTrust experienced a major technical failure on Tuesday that rendered a wide range of services unavailable, including the government portal MyGuichet, online banking for many financial institutions, and various other online platforms.
Service restoration began on Wednesday afternoon. Initial user reports to RTL indicated that access to online banking and the Luxair website resumed in the early afternoon.
The company formally confirmed the resolution at approximately 4.10pm in a written statement, announcing that its various services were functioning normally again. LuxTrust added that it would conduct a full analysis of the incident and share its conclusions.
This official all-clear followed lingering uncertainty earlier in the day. At 3pm, the company’s own website still reported that services were only partially available, even as external platforms began to come back online.
LuxTrust Director Fabrice Aresu had clarified in an interview with RTL on Wednesday morning that the outage was not caused by a cyberattack. He attributed the failure to a technical error on a data server, specifically a downed storage element within the network.
While assuring that customer and state data remain safe, Aresu acknowledged the company cannot yet assess the full impact of the prolonged disruption. He said a subsequent analysis would examine both the damage and the reasons the issue could not be resolved more quickly, despite having backup systems in place.
When questioned about LuxTrust’s monopoly position, Aresu described such outages as rare but impactful. He noted existing alternatives like GovID for MyGuichet access and pointed to an upcoming European digital wallet. However, he reiterated that technical failures can never be entirely prevented. Aresu concluded by stating that LuxTrust would continue cooperating with authorities to strengthen system resilience.
The LuxTrust outage had a significant impact across Luxembourg, rendering a wide range of essential services unavailable. The company’s systems are integral to most banking operations, payments, and online authentication for both public and private platforms.
As a result of the disruption, users were unable to perform bank transfers, sign documents electronically, or access numerous critical services. These include the national civic portal MyGuichet, airline platforms like Luxair, healthcare systems such as eSanté, and the trade register. The failure also affected internal IT systems of various government administrations and banks that rely on LuxTrust for authentication.
Minister of the Economy Lex Delles has strongly criticised the prolonged LuxTrust service outage, describing the failure as “unacceptable”.
In an interview with RTL, Delles confirmed the government will conduct a joint analysis with LuxTrust to determine the cause, with a specific focus on system redundancy. He revealed that technical teams worked from 3am onwards to rebuild the system entirely from a backup, essentially creating a new database from scratch. “That really shouldn’t happen”, Delles stated, emphasising that the purpose of redundancy and resilience is precisely to prevent such situations. “And that is exactly what needs to be addressed”, he added.
The minister’s comments highlight broader concerns beyond the technical failure, including the adequacy of emergency mechanisms and the lack of effective communication during the crisis.
Delles also addressed LuxTrust’s unique market position, acknowledging it was created at a time when no alternative solutions existed, positioning Luxembourg as an early adopter. The state, he said, intervened to implement a solution that worked for the entire country. However, he noted the landscape has since changed, with private providers now offering similar services. “We are in regular contact with them, at least to have a backup”, Delles said, adding: “We also need to see how we proceed with this.”
Following a major technical failure at POST, this incident now places LuxTrust under similar scrutiny, with investigations set to proceed based on this exceptional incident.
The outage has prompted immediate political scrutiny, with several parliamentary questions filed on Wednesday addressing the company’s reliability and monopoly position.
MP Joëlle Welfring of the Green Party (Déi Gréng) enquired about the specific essential services affected, potential extensions for legal deadlines missed due to the outage, the cause of the incident, and whether LuxTrust’s monopoly is compatible with requirements for resilience, security, and service availability.
She was joined by MPs Sven Clement of the Pirate Party, Diane Adehm of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV), Ben Polidori of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), and Green Party colleague Djuna Bernard. Their questions similarly seek details on the impact across affected authorities and businesses. Many explicitly challenge the monopoly status or ask if this incident will lead to plans for a backup solution.
The questions are now directed to Minister for Digitalisation Stéphanie Obertin, Minister of Education Claude Meisch, and Minister of the Economy Lex Delles, who are required to provide formal responses.
The widespread LuxTrust outage also disrupted the country’s education system, affecting access to essential platforms for schools.
The Education IT Management Centre (CGIE) implemented an alternative access solution after only being formally notified of the problem by LuxTrust at 7pm on Tuesday. Teachers were subsequently briefed on Wednesday morning on how to access services like Scolaria and the E-Notebook using the workaround. This information was provided by Education Minister Claude Meisch in response to an urgent parliamentary question from the Green Party.
According to LuxTrust’s official communications, the technical issues began at 3.20pm on Tuesday afternoon. As a result, various services, including core authentication functions, were unavailable. The company stated that the outage did not compromise customer data or transaction security. The issue was officially declared resolved at around 4pm on Wednesday afternoon.
