Germany’s information security authority warned of an increase in the threat level after a hacking group published data from Berlin’s local administration, following the expiration of a deadline given by the hackers to the Berlin state government in exchange for a ransom payment it stole in mid-August last year.
A spokesperson for the authority said: “The German Information Security Authority unequivocally indicates that the publication of stolen data can lead to various risks for the people affected and, ultimately, for society.”
Politically, the commission warned that the so-called 20 This September.
Authorities noted that in these operations, stolen documents, emails or the like are released at a time convenient for the attacker and can be placed in a false context.
Germany’s information security agency said the hackers, who posted the extracted data online after a deadline set by the Berlin state government, were not believed to have had a political motive and the operation was believed to be “purely financially motivated.”
The governor of Berlin explained that the security authorities are currently conducting an intensive review of the data, “and a digital forensic expert, commissioned by the state of Berlin, will immediately study the published data and appropriate measures will be taken from this analysis.”
The German Information Security Service urges people to be vigilant
Authorities noted an increase in the threat of targeted phishing attacks following the data breach and announced they would be contacting those affected.
A statement from the Berlin governor’s office said: “If any affected person is identified during the analysis, the appropriate departments of the Berlin governor’s office will be notified according to the level of risk and in accordance with the requirements of the law.”
He added that citizens who discover on their own that “their data has been published or used for crimes such as fraud or identity theft” should file criminal charges.
Authorities advised victims to exercise caution and check whether they were directly affected by the data breach and what type of data was released.
In addition, data containing information about critical infrastructure, companies and organizations may, depending on its sensitivity, lead to an increase in the threat level, the government said in a statement.
Earlier, the Berlin state administration confirmed the fact of the cyber attack that was revealed 14 Last August, the criminal hacking group Reseda stole a huge amount of data and demanded a ransom. 30 Bitcoin, the equivalent of about two million euros, and the Berlin state government then announced that it would not submit to blackmail and would not pay the ransom.
After the deadline expired on Friday afternoon, the hacking group followed through on the threat and posted a 5.8 terabyte data packet on the dark web.
The cyber expert accuses the state of Berlin of gross negligence
German information technology expert Manuel Atog made serious accusations against the state of Berlin in statements to the German Information Agency (DPA), saying: “The state of Berlin acted with gross negligence and deliberately failed to comply with the requirements for the protection of confidential information.” He added that he was “really shocked and I have nothing to say”, noting that there are very strict and precise rules for the storage and processing of classified information documents, as well as several levels of security, and he said that these rules were not applied to an adequate extent.
Notably, Atug is the founder and spokesperson of the AG Cretech working group. It is an independent task force dealing with critical infrastructure.
Atog said he was summoned twice as a technical expert to the Berlin state parliament’s interior affairs committee, once in 2023 and once in 2025. He explained that he alerted officials at the time to the existence of glaring security gaps, saying: “You are running a cyber security system in a deplorable state. You need to address your security measures immediately.” He added that he warned that neglecting security would have dire consequences. “And that’s exactly what happened now,” he said.
Editor: Arif Jabo
