Media: Hackers demand €2 million ransom from Berlin after large-scale cyberattack

The attackers are demanding a ransom of about €2 million from the Berlin authorities after a hacker attack carried out in early August on the networks of the Senate of the German capital.

This was reported by the DPA agency citing a Senate representative, Christine Richter.

"Indeed, a group called Rhysida has claimed responsibility for this crime and asserts that it has obtained data amounting to 5.7 terabytes," Richter noted. The hackers are demanding that the money be paid to them by Friday.

Since August 28, the attackers have put the stolen data up for sale on the darknet as part of an auction. "The minimum bid is 30 bitcoins, that is, about €2 million. The auction will last until Friday," Richter said. "It should be assumed that afterwards the data will be resold or published in full or in part," she added.

According to the Senate, this is a highly professional group that has been linked to various cyberattacks on facilities in Northern and Southern Europe, Germany, and the United States in recent years.

The cyberattack became known on August 14. After that, both affected agencies — the Senate Chancellery for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment, as well as for Urban Development, Construction and Housing — were temporarily disconnected from the citywide network. According to information available at the moment, a large-scale data leak occurred between August 7 and 12. Among the data there is also confidential information, for example, personal data. Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner stated that the state of Berlin will not give in to blackmail.

Source: TASS