Hacker attack on the police: millions of damage and personal data at risk!

Hacker attack on the police: millions of damage and personal data at risk!

In a serious incident, a hacker attack on the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania police caused a sensation. The interior committee of the state parliament interviewed Interior Minister Christian Pegel on the background of the attack on a software program of the state police. As reported NDR, attackers were able to collect data unnoticed in May this year by using two vulnerabilities in the system. In addition, the reaction of the state police at the publication of warnings about security gaps, which were published on May 8, was inadequate because they did not reach the police in time.

Telekom initially found strange activities on the police server, but the warning in this regard only reached the responsible bodies on May 22. The officials then saw themselves forced to switch off the attacked servers. Finally, the data query options were also stopped at the beginning of June. A new procurement of the server required by the incident is estimated to be between 200,000 and 250,000 euros and could even cause a total damage of several million euros.

Data breakdown and security gaps

As it says, the security of the over 3,500 service smartphones of the state police was severely affected. Access to individual official data, such as e-mail addresses and GPS data, could possibly also have private information from the police. The [Tagesschau] (https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/Mecklenburgvorpommern/hackerastrasch on-polizehihandys-sche-sche-sche--daten-beamt-polihandys-100.html) also confirms that the smartphones were not only used for business, but also privately, which increases the protection of personal data. It is currently unclear whether and in what form data may have been transferred to the outside.

The police officers are now forced to communicate via radio devices, which significantly affects the efficiency of their work. The police union criticizes the sluggish information transfer and calls for comprehensive and transparent clarification of the incident. The IT experts lack qualified forces, and the union also requires that more experts are being discontinued to avoid future security problems.

cause research and outlook

The investigation into the hacker attack is already underway. The State Criminal Police Office and the Rostock public prosecutor's office take a close look at the incident. Initial indications indicate that the attackers could possibly be connected to a professional group of perpetrators. In the current attacks, a remarkable professionalism of the cybercriminals, which according to the BSI have developed in recent years.

A bumpy communicative exchange for clarification can already be observed. Interior Minister Pegel tries to defuse the criticism that becomes loud against him. It describes the exchange of IT technology as a necessary precaution and is behind the measures for security. But the doubts about the correctness and speed of the reactions remain, especially since the opposition in the state parliament is pushing after a complete information. The case throws a light on the growing security risks in digitization, which according to BSI report in Germany is classified as worrying.

Overall, it remains to be seen how the situation will develop and what consequences this incident will have for IT security in the police and beyond. Cologne citizens can be excited to see whether and how such incidents can be avoided in the future. However, one thing is certain: cybercrime will not stop, and the security measures will have to be continuously developed to protect the citizens in the best possible way.