Berlin Rejects Hackers' Extortion After Data Theft

Berlin's state government confirmed it is the target of an extortion attempt following a cyberattack on its administrative network in August, with officials stating they will not meet the hackers' demands. The attack, attributed by a ransomware group to itself, occurred less than a month before the city-state is scheduled to hold elections on September 20. Forensic investigations revealed that data was stolen from the network of the Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment between August 7 and August 12, 2026. The department first noticed data loss on August 7 and was cut off from the network on August 14. Berlin publicly disclosed the incident on August 17. All Senate departments were reconnected to the network on August 23, though forensic work and system scanning continue. On August 28, the ransomware group Rhysida posted an entry titled "Berlin, Germany" on its dark web leak site, claiming responsibility. The group alleges it stole 5.79 terabytes of data containing personal information on 12,076 individuals from approximately 1.44 million files. Berlin has not officially attributed the attack to any specific group.