IHK became a victim of a comprehensive cyberattack

In Germany, another public corporation has fallen victim to a widespread cyberattack. This time, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) has been hit. The attack is said to affect not only selected branches. Except for the branches in Hesse and Baden-Württemberg, it is said to have possibly affected all IHKs throughout Germany.

Cyber attack on 79 IHKs across Germany

The number of cyberattacks is also steadily increasing in Germany. And it is not just large authorities and companies that are falling victim to hacker attacks. In the meantime, criminals are increasingly targeting smaller public agencies as well. The Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), for example, reports that it has now also become a victim. Since a total of 79 branches of the institution, which specializes in the self-administration of regional companies, have been hit, it must be assumed that the attack was widespread. The trail left by the perpetrators seems to be similar to other attacks launched in the recent past.

The IHK itself confirmed the attack in a post on the LinkedIn portal and on Twitter. At the same time, the public corporation still appeared ignorant about the background of the attack and only informed that it had taken place in the night from Wednesday to Thursday.

We cannot yet assess the background and extent of the attack. However, there are currently restrictions on individual IHK services. This applies in particular to the website of the three Schleswig-Holstein IHKs.IHK via LinkedIn

Restrictions in accessibility

The IHK has responded to the attack in the best possible way. For example, the institution immediately cut the Internet connections of its branches to stop further attacks for the time being. But of course, the whole thing also has its downside. After all, the individual IHKs are only accessible to a limited extent for the time being. They cannot be reached by phone or e-mail at the moment. In order to restore some normality to daily operations, the IHK has enlisted the support of the Gesellschaft für Informationsverarbeitung. The experts are also to help with research into the causes of the attack and work out the extent. So far, it is not yet known what was done in the attack and to what extent.

Is a Ddos attack behind it?

It will certainly take a few more days until the responsible investigators will be able to track down the culprits. However, there are already some clear parallels to Ddos attacks, which have recently also increasingly affected public authorities. Electricity suppliers have also recently been victims of Ddos attacks. In this case, the trail led to Russia. Since with the start of the Ukraine war the Russian hacker group Killnet called for attacks on Western targets, there could well be something to this. First, however, we should wait for the investigators’ findings.