Cyberattack on Berlin's State Network – Senate Confirms Ongoing Investigation

Investigators and Authorities Involved

The Senate Chancellery also stressed that the responsible bodies had already been brought in. Named are the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and the State Office of Criminal Investigation (LKA), which are investigating the incident together with the administration. Which of these authorities is taking the lead role was not explicitly stated in the communication.

rbb24.de and the Tagesspiegel were the first to report on the incident. Both media outlets relied on information from the Senate Chancellery and the Berlin Senate Administration. How the reporters obtained the information is not publicly known. Nor was anything initially communicated about possible indications of the attackers' identity or any political motive.

Possible Consequences for Administration and Citizens

It is also unclear what consequences the attack will have on the operations of the Berlin administration. If internal mail communications or other services of the state network are affected, this could have an impact on the reachability of individual authorities and on the processing of citizens' concerns. There are currently no concrete indications of such restrictions.

Security experts have pointed out for years that administrative networks are a rewarding target for cyberattacks because personal data of large sections of the population is processed there. In earlier situation reports, the BSI had classified the threat level for public administration as „hoch". Whether comparable patterns exist in the current case is now being examined.

Data Protection and Next Steps

The Senate Chancellery announced that it would continue to provide information only „in dem Maße" as the ongoing investigations allowed. This stance is in line with common practice in IT security incidents, where premature public disclosures can jeopardize ongoing forensic work. At the same time, pressure is growing to inform the public promptly about possible risks, for example to personal data.

Should it emerge in the course of the investigations that data has been exfiltrated, notification of the affected persons would be mandatory under the General Data Protection Regulation. Whether such a notification is imminent is currently unforeseeable. The Senate Chancellery merely pointed out that internal processes were being monitored „engmaschig".