Cyber attack on Ellwangen: Minored perpetrator!
Cyber attack on Ellwangen: Minored perpetrator!
In the city of Ellwangen, there was a serious cyber attack, which affected the urban administration and the schools. As the city administration confirmed on Friday, an underage former student of an Ellwang school was identified as a suspect. The individual offender had gained access to urban networks, which already led to an occurrence of the first irregularities at the end of April. Striking systems were immediately switched off and a crisis rod was formed.
The school networks are particularly affected, where some programs only work to a limited extent. IT experts have already found information about the perpetrator and the police continue to investigate. The city administration announced that access to the urban network for administration and for schools is significantly disturbed. In parallel to the investigation, the urban network is also secured, while revising around 200 servers is also running.effects on the city and schools
The schools in Ellwangen are currently affected by the technical difficulties except for a school that uses a different software. The program for digital plates and projectors are disturbed in a facility, which is why teachers have to temporarily use private laptops in order to maintain the lessons. Despite the problems, lessons are continued at all schools. The city administration remains available by email and telephone, but there are difficulties with delays in the email system.
The school management aims to make the email accounts of the teachers and students available again after the Pentecost holidays. Neither sensitive data have been tapped, nor were blackmail claims. This poses a certain relief for the citizens who are still informed about the security of their personal data.
cyber security situation in Germany
The incident in Ellwangen is nationwide in the context of an alarming location of IT security. According to a report by the Federal Office for Information Technology (BSI), cybercriminals have professionalized their attack strategies and are increasingly using modern technologies. Established structures in the cyber area make it easier to attack municipalities and companies.
Digitization has also enlarged the attack areas and thus led to more weak points. Ransomware attacks are particularly dangerous for small and medium-sized companies as well as for municipalities. As early as October 2023, a municipal IT service provider was attacked, which resulted in massive effects on 72 municipalities.
The city of Ellwangen is not the only municipality that has to deal with the consequences of a cyber attack. The incident shows the fragility of the IT infrastructures and the need to further improve cyber security architecture.
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| Ort | Ellwangen, Deutschland |
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