Berlin Mayor rejects ransom demand after cyberattack

BERLIN: Berlin is being blackmailed following a cyberattack and data theft that disrupted several city government departments, but the city will not pay the ransom, the outgoing mayor said Friday.

According to German media reports, cybercriminals have demanded 30 bitcoin, worth about 2 million euros ($2.5 million), in exchange for not releasing the stolen data. The hacking group RansomHub is suspected of being behind the attack.

Outgoing Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said the city had received the ransom demand Thursday evening but would not give in to the extortion attempt.

The cyberattack, which occurred Aug. 4, forced several municipal departments, particularly those responsible for housing and environmental services, to disconnect from the network for about a week. The disruption delayed the processing of housing benefit applications and payments.

Authorities initially said no sensitive information had been stolen but later acknowledged that residents’ personal data may have been compromised. According to Der Spiegel, the hackers have threatened to publish the data if the ransom is not paid within a week.

Wegner said German security agencies were working urgently to identify those responsible and determine what information may have been stolen.

The group believed to be responsible, RansomHub, has previously claimed responsibility for a 2023 ransomware attack on the British Library and demanded a ransom in bitcoin. After the library refused to pay, the group published hundreds of thousands of files containing personal information on the dark web.