Berlin is being blackmailed by hackers, mayor says

Berlin is being blackmailed by hackers who were able to compromise city systems and steal data earlier this month, its mayor has remarked.

Key points

• It successfully infiltrated the British Museum's computer systems in 2023, disrupting services and stealing around 500, 000 files.
• Authorities for the city-state stated an initial data leak occurred between 7 and 12 August.
• The Rhysida group, which is thought to operate from Russia and eastern Europe, and was behind a previous attack on the British Museum, has reportedly taken responsibility.
• Then, on 14 August, two department networks were shut down, making applications for housing benefits and payments impossible for a number of days.
• Though state senator Iris Spranger insisted that election infrastructure had not been compromised, the Berlin cyber-attack comes roughly a month before the city holds elections.

Kai Wegner remarked office-holders would not cave in to the ransom demand. It came on Thursday evening. Though Der Spiegel reports the hackers are demanding 30 bitcoin, worth around €2m (£1.7m), he did not say how much was being sought.

While investigators were working to understand what data had been taken, some of the German capital's online systems were forced to close down since of the attack.

Meanwhile, the Rhysida group, which is thought to operate from Russia and eastern Europe, and was behind a previous attack on the British Museum, has reportedly taken responsibility.

It has remarked on its website it intends to commence auctioning the 5.79 terabytes of data it was able to steal from Berlin in seven days' time, according to news agency Reuters. "Berlin will not be blackmailed, " Wegner remarked on Friday.

He remarked state police, prosecutors and federal security services were working to investigate the suspected perpetrators "with the utmost urgency", adding that inquiries into the "content and scope of the compromised data are being pursued with great intensity".

Forensic investigations had since made public further data leaks within Berlin's transport and environment department, office-holders noted.

"It cannot be ruled out that personal or other non-public data may also be affected, " the mayor's office remarked in an official note on Friday.

Though Der Spiegel is carrying a screenshot of the Rhysida group's dark web site claiming to possess files including contracts, non-disclosure agreements, personnel files, passwords and thousands of personal contact details, authorities in the capital have not named the suspected cyber-attackers.

After which it states it will commence auctioning off the data with a starting rate of 30 bitcoin – the same amount of the cryptocurrency being sought from Berlin, the German newspaper reports, it is additionally displaying a countdown.

Notably, the Rhysida group has asserted hundreds of attacks since it emerged in 2023, studies say, and the group has targeted administration insititutions and businesses of varying sizes in numerous countries.

When the UK institution refused to pay the ransom, the group published the files – containing the personal data of visitors, subscribers and staff – on the dark web.

In short, berlin is being blackmailed by hackers, mayor says is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.