District administration Vorpommern-Rügen in crisis mode after cyber attack!

District administration Vorpommern-Rügen in crisis mode after cyber attack!

A massive cyber attack has overthrew the district administration into chaos in Vorpommern-Rügen! Telephone, fax and even pen and paper had to serve instead of emails for communication and important documents. The administration was in a state of emergency when the digital systems were suddenly paralyzed. A real catastrophe for everyone affected!

According to the public prosecutor, the attackers had made it "unjustifiably accessing the district's information technology system via a used user account". A true masterpiece of cybercrime! While the administration concerned is slowly trying to recover, the consequences of the attack of November 27, 2023 are still noticeable.

Technical restrictions and bureaucracy in upheaval

Despite the apparently improved situation, there are still considerable technical restrictions. "We had ability to work every day," emphasizes the administration, while admitting that "problems and technical restrictions continue to exist". In particular, the web-based applications associated with federal and state authorities are still struggling.

A ray of hope: In some areas, such as the automotive approval and the immigration office, specialist applications can now be used again. Nevertheless, there were changes and transitional solutions that significantly influenced the everyday office life. Some employees even see themselves forced to take longer trips to take advantage of the necessary administrative assistance at other locations.

"We are high pressure to ensure that everything runs smoothly again", the administration assures, although it emphasizes that it takes support from many partners to fix the problems. Further improvements will be expected in the next few weeks!

Unclear costs and investigations with no result

The question of the costs caused by the cyber attack remains unclear for many citizens. "We will put together the sum and process them internally," the administration does not provide any detailed information. That makes the situation even more frustrating!

Another damper: The police investigations were already discontinued in February. "A perpetrator could not be determined," says the public prosecutor's office in Rostock. The only track found was an IP address from North America, but the experiences have shown that such investigations often run into nothing. Although no direct damage could be determined-"Data has not been run, there have been no money payments"-the trouble remains about the basic IT problems and the associated costs.