Ancient software in the administration, computer failures in the courts, incorrect election documents… The Berlin IT service center ITDZ made a name for itself primarily through bankruptcies, bad luck and breakdowns.
Now everything should get better, at least Franziska Giffey (43, SPD) hopes. On Wednesday, the Governing Mayoress visited the ITDZ on Berliner Strasse and inaugurated the “Security Operations Center”.
Experts are sitting in a darkened room on the 3rd floor to ward off attacks on the Berlin administration’s IT network. “The beginning of better positioned IT security,” said Giffey to the BZ Successes are not visible to the general public. “If nothing happens, a good job was done here!”
Big problem of the ITDZ: It has 1000 employees, but needs 700 more! But they are hard to come by.
“IT specialists are gold dust in Berlin,” says Giffey. “We have the largest start-up scene in Europe here with 4,000 companies.”
That’s why the Senate wants to attract new IT experts with higher salaries. Details are currently being worked out with the financial administration.
For Giffey, the new security center is “a kind of fire control center for the cyber defense. Last year alone there were 15 million attempted attacks on the country’s IT network!
The ITDZ contains the private data of 3.7 million Berliners. “We bear responsibility for this, and we have to ensure it in particular,” says Giffey. The citizens’ hotline 115 and appointments for the citizens’ registration offices are also managed here.
also read
► More and more e-cars in Berlin, but hardly any charging stations
► Try to get an identity card in Berlin
120,000 IT workstations in the authorities are connected to the network. The town hall boss is also affected by the attacks: “I’m always annoyed by the spam mails I get.”
The many breakdowns of the ITDZ annoy Giffey. “I want to send the clear signal that we’re bringing a breath of fresh air into this!” They are on the right track, “but more needs to be done.”
