Overview
- In mid‑August hackers from the Rhysida group gained access to servers in two Berlin senates and remained undetected for about a week before the intrusion was made public.
- The group demanded 30 bitcoins for the data, the Berlin Senate refused to pay, and attackers then published large parts of the haul in the Darknet.
- Reporting puts the leak at a minimum of 1.2 million records and possibly several terabytes, including staff passwords, personnel files, building and prison plans, and vulnerability analyses for power and water systems.
- The Senatskanzlei has opened a central information page on berlin.de, provided the email Cyberangriff@senatskanzlei.berlin.de and set up department contacts to help affected people.
- Opposition parties have called for an investigative committee and rapid IT reform, experts have been asked to propose architectural changes by October 1, and national commentary is using the breach to push for stronger federal cybersecurity laws and expanded agency powers.