Most of the websites of the 53 German Chambers of Crafts are currently unavailable. All of them show the same picture that they are disturbed due to a system failure. However, individual chambers have already confirmed a hacker attack on the IT service provider.
At the moment you can quickly find out which chamber of crafts operates its systems or at least the homepage of the IT service provider ODAV in Straubing, Bavaria. All web addresses are currently redirected to www.hwk-info.de and only show an information banner with the note “Our homepage is currently not accessible!”. There is also the information “We are working hard to make our systems available again as quickly as possible…”
The attack probably took place last week
🔎 Most of the homepages of the Chambers of Crafts are all redirected to www.hwk-info.de and provide information about the disruption (Image: Chamber of Crafts).
Some media have already asked various chambers of crafts what happened now. But all the comments so far are very similar. There had been an incident or a cyber attack and the systems had been shut down as a precaution. It was not yet known whether all internal systems were also affected. The demand for a data outflow also remains unanswered to date. At least the Chambers of Crafts can still be reached by telephone. The email systems in many chambers are currently paralyzed.
IT service provider cannot be reached
The website of the IT service provider ODAV in Straubing, Bavaria, is also not accessible and shows the same disruption banner as many chamber pages. There is currently no official statement as to what exactly happened. However, it is to be expected that a cyber attack and perhaps even ransomware has penetrated the systems and encrypted them. This is only recently the case Special purpose association for municipal data processing in the district of Neu-Ulm happened and paralyzed 12 Bavarian municipalities. Or the attack on him IT service provider Südwestfalen-IT, which means that almost 100 communities in North Rhine-Westphalia no longer have any contact to their citizens because all websites, service platforms and service PCs were unusable.
Even if ransomware had hit the systems of the Chambers of Crafts, no payment would be expected in this case either. It would once again disrupt the German economy. Because none of the attacks mentioned above achieved any ransom money. The article also explains this “What is the goal of ransomware attacks on cities and towns?”.
More at HWK-info.de