Berlin Administration Cyber Attack: 1.2 Million Stolen Files Could Threaten Victims for Years

On 14 August, Berlin's Senate administration discovered that the hacker group Rhysida had breached two of its departments: the Senate Department for Transport and Environment and the Senate Department for Urban Development, Construction, and Housing. The attackers spent several days siphoning data before the intrusion was detected. They subsequently offered the stolen material for auction on the darknet, setting a starting price of 30 Bitcoin — roughly 2.4 million US dollars. More than 1.2 million files are now circulating in darknet channels. IT security consultant Manuel Atug warned that the consequences for those whose data was taken could stretch far into the future, as criminal networks can exploit stolen personal information for fraud and other schemes years after an initial breach. Atug also cautioned that Rhysida may yet release further highly sensitive data. Berlin's Senate administration has acknowledged that it does not have a full picture of the extent of the data exposure or the risk it poses to those affected.