Germany’s first cyber-catastrophe will certainly not be its last
In July, the District Administrator (Landrat) of Anhalt-Bitterfeld declared Germany’s first cyber-catastrophe. A ransomware attack infected the district’s IT systems with malware, encrypting data and demanding a ransom. The systems had to be disconnected to avoid any further damage. The district administration was paralyzed for nearly two weeks. It was not possible to send or receive e-mails and no social security benefits were paid out. Even long after the attack, a return to normal operations is still some way away.
This was nowhere near the first cyber-attack in Germany. And it will probably not be the only cyber-catastrophe.