Tag Archive for: Germany’s

Germany’s national bar association investigating ransomware attack

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A bar association representing German lawyers nationwide is investigating a cyberattack on its office in Brussels.

The German Federal Bar (BRAK) Association discovered the attack on August 2. The group is an umbrella organization overseeing 28 regional bars across Germany and representing about 166,000 lawyers nationally and internationally.

On Monday, the NoEscape ransomware group claimed it attacked the organization after BRAK announced last week that it was investigating a cyberattack. The organization did not respond to requests for an update on the situation, instead referring Recorded Future News to last week’s news release.

In the statement they said they were working with a forensic firm to investigate the ransomware attack, which was discovered on August 2, on its Brussels office. They have been able to restore access to their email system and plan to contact anyone who had data accessed during the incident.

“The Brussels office… fell victim to a criminal cyberattack, which led to a failure of the IT systems,” they wrote. Once discovered, “all network connections were immediately severed.”

“BRAK is currently working with an external service provider for IT security on a forensic analysis of the IT systems in order to clarify the incident and repair the damage… BRAK reported the incident to the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and is in contact with the Belgian police, the Berlin State Criminal Police Office and the Cyber ​​Emergency Response Team of the Belgian Center for Cyber ​​Security,” they added.

The hackers encrypted BRAK’s mail server and exfiltrated 160 gigabytes of data. The organization is still trying to figure out how much information was taken involving communications from people contacting the Brussels office. The organization is operating under the assumption that such information was leaked.

The organization runs a special email service for lawyers but said that mailbox is on a completely separate system.

Officials said the ransomware gang…

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District council declares Germany’s first-ever ‘cyber-catastrophe’

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BERLIN: A district council in eastern Germany has declared a disaster after its computer systems were paralysed by a hacker attack in what the federal cybersecurity watchdog confirmed was the country’s first-ever “cyber-catastrophe”.

Hackers knocked out the IT operations of the municipality of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, on Tuesday (Jul 6), a spokesperson confirmed to Reuters on Saturday.

“We are almost completely paralysed,” the spokesperson said, adding its offices would probably remain offline next week and giving no indication of when services would resume.

The municipality declined comment on the identity of the attacker or whether they had made a ransom demand, citing a police investigation. Security sources say German local governments often run outdated and poorly maintained software systems that could be wide open to cyberattack.

The rural district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, with a population of 157,000, is for the time being unable to pay out welfare benefits. Its consequent catastrophe declaration is a formal step that allows it to call for federal help.

The cyberattack is the latest in a series of incidents targeting public infrastructure, including the recent takedown of the US Colonial Pipeline, while extortionists have also targeted widely used IT applications with ransomware attacks.

Germany’s BSI cybersecurity agency said it had sent a crisis team to Anhalt-Bitterfeld. A spokesperson said that, although other local authorities had been the victim of cyberattacks, none had declared a catastrophe as a result.

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Germany’s state spyware set to hack WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging apps by end of 2017 – International Business Times UK

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International Business Times UK

Germany's state spyware set to hack WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging apps by end of 2017
International Business Times UK
FinSpy is allegedly capable of remotely recording all calls and messages (both SMS as well as other messaging apps). The surveillance software can also remotely turn on a device's camera, microphone, as well as locate and track a device in real time.

finspy – read more