BERLIN: A district council in eastern Germany has declared a disaster after its computer systems were paralyzed by a hacker attack, the country’s first-ever “cyber-catastrophe,” according to the federal cybersecurity authority. On Tuesday (July 6), hackers took down the IT systems of the municipality of Anhalt-Bitterfeld in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, according to a spokeswoman who talked to Reuters on Saturday.
“We’re basically completely paralyzed,” the representative said, adding that the company’s offices would most likely remain closed next week and that no date had been set for when services would restart.
The municipality declined to comment on the attacker’s identity or whether a ransom demand had been made, citing a police investigation. According to security authorities, German municipal governments frequently use out-of-date and poorly maintained software systems that are vulnerable to cyberattack. With a population of 157,000 people, the rural district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld is currently unable to pay out welfare benefits. Its subsequent disaster declaration is a formal procedure that allows it to seek federal assistance. The cyberattack is the latest in a string of attacks on public infrastructure, including the recent shutdown of the US Colonial Pipeline, and extortionists have employed ransomware operations to target widely used IT programs.
The German cybersecurity organization BSI said it has dispatched a crisis response team to Anhalt-Bitterfeld. Despite the fact that other municipal governments had been targeted by hacks, no one had declared a disaster as a result, according to a spokesperson./n
