By Stephen Peter
The Brandenburg state capital is offline! Due to a possible cyber attack, the Potsdam City Hall and the municipal utility have switched off their Internet connections for the time being. It is still unclear when and how the problem will be solved.
Potsdam Mayor Mike Schubert (49, SPD) is angry: “It’s not only criminal, it’s antisocial in such difficult times, when citizens are dependent on applying for and paying out housing benefit and social benefits, to attack the necessary IT systems. “
But Schubert wants to avoid panic. “The shutdown was preventive because we received serious indications of an impending attack on Potsdam’s IT infrastructure from the state’s security authorities,” said the head of the town hall on Friday. “I followed the recommendation of the IT managers to protect the city’s data by preventively shutting down the Internet connection, i.e. the entry into the administration systems.”
Did the perpetrator or perpetrators want to paralyze the entire administration with a cyber attack and thus force Potsdam to pay millions? So far there is no information on an attempt at blackmail, according to a spokesman for the city administration
“Now it is important to quickly check our systems, expand security standards if necessary and then restore online availability,” said the mayor. When this accessibility is given again – completely unclear!
A crisis team met in the town hall on Friday. Also present were Schubert, representatives from all business areas, IT specialists and the head of the e-government department. The staff will meet again on Monday.
What is currently not working: Emails cannot be sent to the individual town hall departments, vehicle registration and deregistration does not work, online applications for housing benefit are not possible. Express Passports cannot be ordered – applications for regular passports and ID cards will be accepted. But only processed when the town hall goes online again!
In April, the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) presented the new security center Photo: DAVIDS/Sven Darmer
The State Criminal Police Office is currently investigating the cyber attack. There are many indications that it was an attack, according to a spokeswoman for the police headquarters. There is no evidence of cyber attacks against other municipalities in Brandenburg.
Since April there has been a new security center in Berlin – the “Security Operations Center”. It is intended to protect the capital from cyber attacks. The employees have a lot to do: In 2021 alone there were 15 million potential attacks on the IT of the Senate and district offices!