Cyberattack Exposes Data of 100,000 Patients Across German Hospitals

The Uniklinik Köln was hit particularly hard, with data from about 27,000 patients stolen. The Uniklinik Düsseldorf reported 3,000 affected patients.

"Normale Kassenpatienten" seien von dem Datenklau nicht betroffen, betonte der Sprecher. ("Standard health insurance patients" were not affected by the data theft, emphasized the spokesperson.)

Scope of the Breach

Authorities, including the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), were notified on April 16, 2026. The full extent of the data leak is still being assessed.

Thomas Kolb, a data protection attorney, noted, "Man muss unterscheiden zwischen Datenschutzstandards und einem Hackerangriff" ("One must distinguish between data protection standards and a hacker attack"). He added that no company can be 100% protected from such attacks.

Sebastian Schinzel, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at FH Münster, described the system as "sehr, sehr verteilt" ("very, very distributed"), highlighting the challenges in securing such networks.

Expert Reactions

Patients with concerns are advised to contact the hospitals directly. For those affected by the Freiburg breach, inquiries can be sent to G2.sammel.zentraleabrechnung@uniklinik-freiburg.de.

The incident underscores the growing threat of cyberattacks on healthcare institutions, which hold vast amounts of sensitive data. Experts urge hospitals to bolster their cybersecurity measures to prevent future breaches.

The affected hospitals are cooperating with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to investigate the attack and mitigate its impact. Patients are being notified individually if their data was compromised.