The digital citizen services in Potsdam have been offline for five weeks. The reason is initially a precautionary measure, as security experts warned of an impending cyber attack. The restart took place a few days ago after a hacker group had been smashed. However, the joy is short-lived.
The city of Potsdam has been offline for five weeks – and according to security experts, there is still a risk of a cyber attack. The online services of the administration therefore remain unusable.
Five weeks ago, security authorities gave indications of an impending cyber attack. There are indications that there could be a connection with an international hacker group, it said. Many services for citizens have stopped working since the end of December. Last Tuesday, the administration wanted to gradually start up the Internet systems again, but went offline again on the same day after there were indications of malware.
The city has now announced that the Ministry of the Interior, the State Criminal Police Office and an IT service provider have carried out a situation assessment after the breakup of an internationally active group of cybercriminals. The network is the Hive Ransomware group. It cannot yet be ruled out that there is a real threat to Potsdam even after the group has been broken up, it said. There has not been a successful cyber attack so far.
Investigators from Germany and the USA recently succeeded in striking the international network of cybercriminals and extortionists. The hacker group is said to have been responsible for more than 1,500 serious cyber attacks against companies and organizations worldwide in the past year and a half. Ransomware has been ranked as the most serious cybersecurity threat for years. Malicious software that has been smuggled in blocks companies or paralyzes their infrastructure. The blackmail that usually follows is a particularly lucrative business.
