Already on April 18 there was a cyber attack on the systems of the city of Schriesheim in Baden-Württemberg. Shortly thereafter, data loss was also confirmed. Various media even speak of 170 GB of data, which has also appeared for sale on the Darknet.
To this day, the city of Schriesheim can only be reached to a limited extent after the cyber attack. According to their own statements, the city's specialists are still in the process of repairing the systems or even setting them up again. Now the data that was stolen from the city of Schriesheim's servers in the course of the cyber attack has also been published on the Darknet.
What happened?
Technical problems in the city of Schriesheim were noticed for the first time on the evening of April 18, 2022. For example, the administration could not be reached by phone or email. On Tuesday, April 19, 2022, the problems could finally be traced back to server encryption. The suspicion of a cyber attack, which was finally confirmed on Thursday, April 21, 2022, gradually became the reason for the encryption.
Was there a ransom demand?
An explicit ransom demand was not made. However, a standardized text written in English was requested to contact the attackers. The lack of specific addressing reinforces the current assumption that this is a widespread, non-targeted attack. At the same time, there were threats that data would be published once an ultimatum had expired. In close coordination with the Mannheim criminal police and the Baden-Württemberg Cyber Security Agency (CSBW), the city of Schriesheim did not establish any contact with the attackers after extensive discussions. In addition, the office of the state data protection officer was contacted immediately after knowledge of a possible loss of data in order to act in accordance with the recommendations of the state data protection officer with regard to a possible publication of data. According to the city of Schriesheim, no ransom was paid either.
Unclear what data was stolen
The data published on the Darknet are already being examined in detail by the city of Schriesheim and the Heidelberg Criminal Police Department and checked with regard to their classification as sensitive and/or personal data. Concerned citizens can contact the city via the hotline. In addition, the city announced that all cash flows and accounts will be monitored more closely.
More at the city of Schriesheim.de