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Potsdam city center: Internet shutdown as a precautionary measure
Photo:
ODD ANDERSEN v AFP
Specialists from the Brandenburg State Criminal Police Office (LKA) are investigating indications of a cyber attack against the state capital Potsdam.
There are many indications that it was an attack, said the spokeswoman for the police headquarters, Beate Kardels, on Friday.
"The LKA has taken over the investigation." The police are not aware of any threatening letters with demands, such as are common with ransomware infections.
In addition, there is currently no evidence of cyber attacks against other municipalities in Brandenburg.
The LKA's IT specialists are in contact with the city and in exchange with other security authorities such as the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), said the police spokeswoman.
The specialists want to determine who is behind the probable cyber attack.
They are also investigating whether there are any security gaps in the city's system.
The city had cut the administration's Internet connection on Thursday.
Since then, she has no longer been available by e-mail and can only work to a limited extent.
Stadtwerke Potsdam also decided on Friday afternoon to switch off their Internet and e-mail connections.
This precautionary measure serves to avert danger and applies until Monday, the company said.
The customer services are affected, said the spokesman for the municipal utility, Stefan Schulz.
But Deutsche Bahn tickets could not be sold either.
The Stadtwerke as a municipal company are also responsible for local passenger transport in Potsdam.
There had already been a cyber attack on the state capital in January 2020, the internet connection of which remained switched off for around a week.
However, there were still restrictions for a long time, for example with online appointments.
According to the city, a weak point in the system of an external provider was responsible.
HAW Hamburg also reports a hacker attack
An IT incident also has consequences in northern Germany: the technical information and communication infrastructure at the HAW Hamburg University of Applied Sciences was attacked, the university announced on its website on Friday.
Therefore, the IT services and other services of the central infrastructure are currently down.
This also affects e-mail traffic.
"Due to this attack and to prevent further damage and data loss, all systems were shut down as a precaution," the university explained.
Unfortunately, this means that employees and students currently do not have access to the information relevant to them.
»Even prospective students cannot use the application portal at the moment.«
pbe/dpa
