The Potsdam city administration has severed its connection due to a possible hacker attack and has not yet restored it. Systems are currently being reviewed.
After information from security authorities about a possibly imminent hacker attack, the Potsdam city administration remains disconnected from the Internet. According to the city administration , the employees of the state capital can still not be reached by e-mail. The citizen service of the state capital Potsdam can also only be used to a limited extent.
According to a press release, the state capital of Potsdam is currently carrying out numerous checks on its IT systems. This is necessary in order to prepare for the gradual recommissioning of citizen services and IT systems.
“The security authorities have informed us that there is a serious threat to our IT systems. We took the warning very seriously and immediately reacted preventively to protect the data of the citizens,” said Lord Mayor Mike Schubert. Thanks to the good cooperation with the security authorities and the preparations of the city’s IT departments and municipal companies, access to the systems and damage were probably prevented.
Citizens must expect restrictions
According to the city administration, appointments that have already been made are secured. However, citizens must expect restrictions because services are not working. The issuing of express passports, the registration and deregistration of vehicles and the issuing of certificates of good conduct are not possible. The document office of the registry office is currently not available, it is said.
E-mails to report child endangerments could not be processed – instead, the administration asks for a telephone report to the youth welfare office, so telephones and faxes continue to work. At the end of last week, the municipal companies also switched off the Internet connection for security reasons.
The state capital Potsdam switched off the administration’s Internet connection on Thursday evening. The city was informed by the security authorities of the state of Brandenburg about an imminent attack on the IT structures and data.
The city hospital also switches off the Internet
After consulting the IT managers with the state and the Brandenburg security authorities, Mayor Mike Schubert decided to take the Internet connections offline as a first step and to check the systems, adjust security standards and then go online again. Stadtwerke Potsdam, the municipal housing company Pro Potsdam and the municipal clinic Ernst von Bergmann also switched off internet and e-mail connections as a precaution.
The Potsdam city administration was already the victim of a cyber attack at the beginning of 2020 . According to them, a vulnerability in the system of an external provider was responsible for this. The city then shut down its servers for about a week.
Potsdam remains offline after indications of a hacker attack
