Trail leads to Russia
Hackers spy on Stadtwerke Karlsruhe
03/04/2023 2:11 p.m
According to a report, cyber criminals gain access to the IT system of Stadtwerke Karlsruhe. There they read the data of a high-ranking employee. But the energy supplier is apparently lucky: in the end, the attack is probably light-hearted.
According to a report, hackers managed to penetrate the network of Stadtwerke Karlsruhe, read an employee’s password and spy out other data. As the “Spiegel” reports, this is evident from the log file of a malicious program.
The data shows that attackers successfully penetrated the computer of a high-ranking employee of the public utility company on February 1 and spent hours professionally investigating the systems. Apparently it was preparations for a ransomware attack. This is malware that criminals use to deny users access to their own data and render computer systems unusable. The hackers then usually make ransom demands.
According to the report, the cybercriminals added a note to the energy supplier with a three-digit million sum. They apparently researched the company’s sales, Keith Jarvis from the IT security company Secureworks told the “Spiegel”. This is typical for online blackmailers, they check whether the goal is worthwhile. In addition, there was a Russian note (“Hang on, who’s doing it?”) in the file, which speaks for a work-sharing approach.
Stadtwerke Karlsruhe confirmed the attack to the news magazine. Two weeks later, the Federal Office for Information Security found out: “Our supply-related IT was not affected.” In addition, the malware was not able to spread, and the “IT security incident was successfully repelled,” it said. However, it cannot be denied that information may have leaked out during the data breach, a company spokesman told the “Spiegel”.