Berlin Hit by Cyberattack and Ransom Demand

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner stated that hackers breached the city government's systems earlier this month, stealing data and issuing a ransom demand. He stated that the government will not yield to the extortion. He did not disclose the ransom amount.

According to media reports, the hackers demanded 30 bitcoins, worth approximately 2 million euros. The attack forced the shutdown of some online systems. The Rhysida group, active in Russia and Eastern Europe, claimed responsibility.

The group announced plans to auction 5.79 terabytes of stolen data from Berlin a week later. Berlin city government officials stated that the data breach occurred between August 7 and 12.

On August 14, networks in two government departments were shut down, causing housing benefit applications and payments to be suspended for several days.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2q7gv3l5qo