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City of Schriesheim: 170 GB of data stolen

Around 170 GB of personal data was stolen in a cyberattack on the town of Schriesheim in the Rhine-Neckar district that occurred just over a month ago, according to the state government.

Data surfaced on the darknet

After the attack, some personal data of city residents surfaced on the darknet. A subsequent inquiry by the SPD parliamentary group has now been answered by the Ministry of the Interior of the state of Baden-Württemberg. In its answer, the ministry states that 170 GB of data were stolen. It goes on to say, however, that the exact scope and characteristics of the data theft have not been fully clarified. Jonas Hoffmann, spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group in the state parliament, was critical, saying the cyberattack showed “that the state government is not well positioned when it comes to cybersecurity for local authorities and companies.”

In the course of the attack, the city’s servers had been encrypted. The attackers had then asked the city to contact them without any specific ransom demands. However, after consulting with the cybersecurity agency of Baden-Württemberg as well as the Mannheim criminal police, the city had refused to do so. As a result, internal documents had initially surfaced on the darknet. Over time, however, such documents were also added, which contained data of residents of the city. The city has since informed those affected.

SPD calls for improvement in cybersecurity

SPD spokesman Hoffmann used the attack and the Interior Ministry’s response to the SPD inquiry to make an appeal: “Since attackers are increasingly targeting critical infrastructure, the state government urgently needs to invest more in the area of cybersecurity!” The fact that vital infrastructure is indeed not spared is shown, for example, by a 2020 attack on the University Hospital Düsseldorf, which led to massive disruptions in care. The Austrian state of Carinthia was also among the most recent victims of large-scale attacks.
Last year, the state had established the aforementioned cybersecurity agency, which is tasked with preventing and defending against cyberattacks. According to Hoffmann, however, this agency does not have sufficient resources to adequately fulfill its tasks – especially as attacks on authorities and companies in the state are on the rise.

Simon Lüthje

I am co-founder of this blog and am very interested in everything that has to do with technology, but I also like to play games. I was born in Hamburg, but now I live in Bad Segeberg.

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Around 170 GB of personal data was stolen in a cyberattack on the town of Schriesheim in the Rhine-Neckar district that occurred just over a month ago, according to the state government. Data surfaced on the darknet After the attack, some personal data of city residents surfaced on the darknet. A subsequent inquiry by the … (Weiterlesen...)

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