Cyber attacks are increasing worldwide.
Hackers have already attacked the Bundestag or sabotaged the Iranian nuclear program.
Now it has hit the Olching social service.
Olching
- suddenly nothing works anymore.
Access denied.
Everything is encrypted.
Bettina Schulz is faced with a mystery.
The manager of the Olching social service calls her IT people.
The computer experts search the social services administration server.
There you will find a request, written in English: In order to be able to use your data again, the facility should pay $ 10,000 in the cyber currency Bitcoin.
Bettina Schulz and her colleagues are shocked.
"As a social association, we do our best for the community every day - it is unbelievable that we were hacked, of all people," says the boss.
Cyber attack on social services: dramatic effects in Olching
The impact on the work of social services is dramatic. The association looks after around 150 people in need of care on an outpatient basis. All information about the patients is now gone - appointments, medication, tour plans of the nurses, availability of relatives. “We are completely digital in care,” says Schulz. A marathon begins for the administrative staff. You have to collect all information about the patient by hand. After all, those in need of care all have individual needs. Thanks to the show of strength, the care of the 150 customers to be cared for can be maintained.
Childcare is also affected.
The social service operates facilities in Olching, Esting and Graßlfing.
Because the telephone system has also been paralyzed, the social services cannot be reached by parents.
A fiasco, especially at the beginning of the school year, when there is often a lot to be clarified.
"It is a very bad time," says Bettina Schulz.
Cyber attack in Olching: Social services do not want to pay ransom
However, the social services will not pay the ransom.
On the one hand, the club does not want to be blackmailed.
On the other hand, it is far from clear whether the data will really be restored after the payment.
The criminal police also advise against responding to criminals' demands.
A spokesman for the responsible presidium in Ingolstadt advises: “Under no circumstances pay and report a complaint.” However, the spokesman also admits that the evidence in such cases is usually very poor.
Highly professional perpetrators are often at work.
As a rule, they operate from abroad.
In the current case, both the criminal investigation department and the IT company commissioned by the social services assume this.
After a hacker attack on social services: Experts try to restore data
The police spokesman advises not to open unknown files, to keep the anti-virus software up to date, to use complex passwords and to save backup copies on external servers.
A specialist company is now working in the social services to investigate the hacker attack.
The experts are trying to find out how the criminals managed to get into the computer system.
In addition, as much data as possible should be restored if possible.
And last but not least, Bettina Schulz wants to increase IT security for the future.
"Because I don't need something like that a second time."
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