Municipalities on alert: We are so ill-equipped against cyber attacks!

Municipalities on alert: We are so ill-equipped against cyber attacks!

The topic of IT failures and cyber attacks has long been a hot topic in Germany, and the cities in North Rhine-Westphalia are not excluded from this. In recent years, various regions, including the Anhalt-Bitterfeld district and more than 70 municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia, have experienced serious IT problems. These outages meant that essential documents such as driver's licenses, ID cards and birth certificates could not be issued, which posed a major challenge, especially for citizens. As MDR reports, the resilience monitor now provides sobering insights into the preparation of municipalities for such disruptions.

The survey by criminal director Dirk Kunze from the LKA North Rhine-Westphalia clearly shows that many local administrations are inadequately prepared for cyber incidents. The survey found that a third of the cities and districts surveyed stated that IT disruptions could last for several months. In addition, many municipalities have no emergency plans and lack the urgently needed 24/7 availability for IT emergencies. IT security is often not understood as a municipal problem. This is an alarming finding, because crisis-proof structures are indispensable today.

Resources and need for cooperation

Another point that contributes to the discussion about IT resilience is the uneven preparation of municipalities, especially in Saxony-Anhalt. The Digital Ministry there points out that smaller municipalities in particular have a great need for improvement. In Saxony it is even a requirement to practice IT emergency scenarios every two years in order to prepare the administration for such situations. This proactive approach could alleviate some problems in stable service delivery.

Mike Schubert, the former mayor of Potsdam, calls for the creation of coordination offices. These could help to better prepare the administration for IT failures and develop a common strategy. According to the Resilience Monitor, which deals intensively with the ability of municipalities to act in crisis situations, inter-municipal cooperation should play a central role. Several failures, such as in Anhalt-Bitterfeld in July 2021 and at Südwestfalen-IT in October 2023, have shown how important it is that municipalities remain resilient and able to act in times of crisis in order to fulfill their legal obligations.

Future-oriented solutions

The challenges in the area of ​​IT security should not be underestimated. The resilience monitor also analyzes how cities and districts can restore their ability to act in such situations as quickly as possible without being dependent on external providers. The aim is an active and coordinated approach that gives municipalities room for maneuver and cooperative resilience. The focus is clearly on ensuring that service provision remains guaranteed regardless of the stability of the IT infrastructure.

The efforts required from the local level are not only a response to past failures, but also a course for the future. It is not enough to simply recognize deficits; Concrete measures and a good network of cooperation are required. The road is rocky, but with a good hand, the cities in North Rhine-Westphalia can significantly improve their digital resilience.

The Resilienzmonitor, which supports municipalities in developing and evaluating measures in order to remain able to act in crisis situations, provides further information on this.