Berlin Is Being Blackmailed By Hackers (bbc.com) 19
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Berlin is being blackmailed by hackers who were able to compromise city systems and steal data earlier this month, its mayor has said. Kai Wegner said officials would not cave in to the ransom demand, which came on Thursday evening. He did not say how much was being sought, though Der Spiegel reports the hackers are demanding 30 bitcoin, worth around 2 million euros. Some of the German capital's online systems were forced to close down as a result of the attack, while investigators were working to understand what data had been taken.
The Rhysida group, which is thought to operate from Russia and eastern Europe, and was behind a previous attack on the British Museum, has reportedly taken responsibility. It has said on its website it intends to begin auctioning the 5.79 terabytes of data it was able to steal from Berlin in seven days' time, according to news agency Reuters. [...] Officials for the city-state said an initial data leak occurred between August 7 and 12. Then, on August 14, two department networks were shut down, making applications for housing benefits and payments impossible for several days. "Berlin will not be blackmailed," Wegner said on Friday.
He said state police, prosecutors and federal security services were working to investigate the suspected perpetrators "with the utmost urgency," adding that inquiries into the "content and scope of the compromised data are being pursued with great intensity."
The Rhysida group, which is thought to operate from Russia and eastern Europe, and was behind a previous attack on the British Museum, has reportedly taken responsibility. It has said on its website it intends to begin auctioning the 5.79 terabytes of data it was able to steal from Berlin in seven days' time, according to news agency Reuters. [...] Officials for the city-state said an initial data leak occurred between August 7 and 12. Then, on August 14, two department networks were shut down, making applications for housing benefits and payments impossible for several days. "Berlin will not be blackmailed," Wegner said on Friday.
He said state police, prosecutors and federal security services were working to investigate the suspected perpetrators "with the utmost urgency," adding that inquiries into the "content and scope of the compromised data are being pursued with great intensity."
They can't do this (Score:1)
Re: They can't do this (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
My inner history nerd tells me not to take German officials seriously when they say what can or cannot happen in or over Berlin.
Re: (Score:2)
They have already been blackmailed.
They claim they will not give in to the blackmail.
We're Not Paying (Score:2)
We're tough. We're not paying. Fuck Hackers.
Besides, it's all constituent data that he doesn't care about anyway. It's a problem for them, not him.
Berlin, talking tough (Score:2)
We're tough. We're not paying. Fuck Hackers.
So, the Hermann Göring tough talking path? Göring with similar defiance once famously said: "If an American fighter plane flies over Berlin, my name is Meyer!" :-)
Publishing the shady contracts will be a benefit (Score:4, Interesting)
Kompromat ? (Score:2)
Asking for ein freund.
Re: (Score:2)
Prostitution is legal in Germany.
Re: (Score:3)
That doesn't mean Berlin's wife will approve...
Re: (Score:2)
But politically, nobody will care.
Re: (Score:2)
I need about tree-fiddy (Score:2)
Play stupid games, win stupid things (Score:2)
I cannot wait for the CRA to come into effect and I hope we will get the second stage (with liability and penalties) soon after.
anything can happen in berlin (Score:3)
Berlin is the kink capital of the universe. I don't think the Russians can kink-shame anyone in Berlin into giving them money.
I guess they took Manhattan (Score:2)
Now they take Berlin