Attacks on town halls and hospitals: Baden-Württemberg is strengthening systems against cyber attacks from Russia

Created: 03/22/2022, 12:59 p.m

By: Nadja Pohr

The number of cyber attacks in Baden-Württemberg has increased alarmingly.

In addition, the attacks from Russia could now become more frequent (symbol image).

©FSB/IMAGO

The Federal Office for Information Security warns of increased cyber attacks from Russia.

Institutions in Baden-Württemberg are therefore strengthening their systems.

Stuttgart - A recently published crime statistic from the state of Baden-Württemberg shows that the number of cyber attacks has risen alarmingly.

In 2021, almost 11,000 cyber crimes were registered, more than ever before.

In connection with the war in Ukraine, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is now warning of increased attacks from Russia, as reported

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Jens Bodo Koch, head of the armaments company Heckler & Koch, explains that the risk of cyber attacks is high.

According to Koch, the attacks came from all over the world, "but there are focal points," he said in an interview.

When asked, he left open whether these were attacks from Russia.

Cyber ​​attacks in Baden-Württemberg are aimed at town halls, municipal utilities and hospitals

But not only companies from the economy in Baden-Württemberg have been affected by cyber attacks in recent years, authorities and public institutions are not safe from these attacks either.

Especially in this area, the precautions are often insufficient.

Klaus Eder, state chairman of the association of municipal companies, reports that authorities are now doing everything "to protect the critical infrastructure as best as possible against cyber attacks." Town halls, public utilities, hospitals and water suppliers were already victims of cyber attacks before Russia attacked Ukraine.

After the warning from the BSI, the Baden-Württemberg City Council would now try all the more to "create resilient systems" for the town halls in Baden-Württemberg, as the deputy general manager Susanne Nusser announced.

Most recently, in January 2022, the Friedrichshafen-Tettnang hospital network (Bodensee district) was attacked with malware.

Among other things, the IT collapsed and operations had to be suspended for days.

Something similar happened to the SRH clinic network in September 2021, which also affected seven hospitals in Baden-Württemberg.

Sebastian Schreiber, head of the Tübingen security company Syss, criticizes: "Various clinic bosses still haven't realized that they are also IT companies" - they are accordingly susceptible to such cyber attacks.

Cyber ​​attacks are not always about monetary demands

According to the State Criminal Police Office in Stuttgart, the attackers are “predominantly monetarily oriented criminal groups”.

Nevertheless, monetary claims are not always the main focus of cyber attacks.

In an attack in February on the Instagram accounts of municipal art museums - including those of the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, the Schauwerk Sindelfingen and the Museum Ulm - the attackers only aimed at disruption.

The State Criminal Police Office warns in detail not to conceal cyber attacks out of concern for image or even to secretly pay extortion money.

This could possibly exacerbate the general threat situation.

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