Cyber ​​attack on Hohenpeissenberg: Hackers demanded 40,000 euros

The major cyber attack also paralyzed the administration in Hohenpeißenberg for several days at the beginning of July.

The hackers had broken into the system via the security software and demanded 40,000 euros.

In the meantime everything is going as it was before.

Hohenpeißenberg - At first he thought that all of this was far away when he heard that a Swedish supermarket chain had to close branches because of a hacker attack, said Mayor Thomas Dorsch at the latest meeting of the Hohenpeißenberg municipal council. Then he noticed that unusually few emails from the town hall landed on his cell phone. But even then, he hadn't really thought of anything else. But suddenly it was clear that the Hohenpeißenberg community was also affected by the major cyber attack that was the topic of news around the world at the beginning of the month. "Then look when the big international hacker attack arrives in a small mountain village," said Dorsch.

Nothing was going on in the Hohenpeissenberg town hall. For a whole day, the entire local government was incapacitated because all programs were blocked by the hackers. And finally, a monetary claim fluttered to the town hall. The community should pay, then all programs would be activated again. "You wanted 40,000 euros from us," said the mayor. Going into this extortion was not an option.

In the past, not all municipalities saw it that way, as a press spokesman for the Bavarian Municipal Council explained when asked.

There was a prominent example in which the community that was being blackmailed by hackers paid a large sum to the blackmailers.

"This is a chilling example because the money was gone and nothing happened," said the spokesman.

The administration was paralyzed because everything was encrypted.

Apart from Hohenpeißenberg, he is not aware of any other community that has become a victim of the latest cyber attack, the spokesman said.

In the case of the Hohenpeißenberg community, the hackers penetrated the city hall's computer system via the anti-virus program in the security software.

“That was particularly perfidious,” said Dorsch.

The community is still very satisfied with the company that looks after the software for the Hohenpeißenberg administration. The company became a victim of the hackers through no fault of its own. “There is no such thing as one hundred percent protection,” said the mayor. As soon as a little door is open, hackers have a target. And an administration that also wants to be accessible digitally cannot completely isolate itself.

After the hackers blocked everything in the community's system, the company cut all connections and gradually put everything back into operation. “We lost a day,” said Dorsch. And there would have been impairments in the following days as well, the mayor described. Nevertheless: "The bottom line was we were lucky and weren't badly affected." No data was tapped. “It was luck in misfortune,” said Dorsch.