The following is a Google translation of the Hanover Chamber of Crafts’ statement:
Hanover, October 26, 2020 . Despite high IT security according to international standards, the networks of the Hanover Chamber of Crafts at all four locations as well as the wholly owned subsidiary Projekt- und Servicegesellschaft were hit by an extortionate Trojan from the group “Sodinokibi” on Wednesday night of last week.
After the entry of the malware was discovered, the plan for IT emergencies took effect. All measures to secure internal and external systems have been taken. In particular, all network connections have been cut and all computers have been shut down. “The analysis is not yet fully completed”, says Peter Karst, General Manager of the Chamber of Crafts Hanover and head of the crisis team. “According to the current state of knowledge, we must assume that all data from local networks has been fished.” All data on the network servers of the external IT service provider are not infected by the virus and are not encrypted. The attack particularly affected data from employees, Correspondence and data exchange with member companies and their employees, including trainees, as well as with funding providers and service providers. “We follow the advice of the investigative authorities and will not give in to the ransom demand for the decryption of the data,” explains Karst about the blackmail attempt.
It is currently completely unclear whether the anonymous blackmailers will actually publish data and thus make it accessible to third parties. “We cannot rule out that this will happen,” says Karst about the specific threat situation under data protection law.
The external data protection officer of the Hanover Chamber of Crafts, Christian Volkmer, Managing Director of Projekt 29 GmbH & Co. KG, accompanies the process and emphasizes: “The cyber risks have been much greater in the past two years than before. Blackmail is given in. Organizations respond to the demands of anonymous blackmailers and turn attacks like this into a still profitable business for criminals. ”In terms of data protection law and IT security, the Hanover Chamber of Crafts is set up in accordance with the rules. “But, as this case regrettably shows, there is no such thing as 100 percent security.”
The corresponding notifications to the legal supervisory authority and the state data protection officer have been made. State and Federal Criminal Police Office are informed and are starting their investigations.
Questions about the data concerned and possible consequences can be directed to Christian Volkmer at any time at anfrage@projekt29.de. The incoming inquiries are processed in a ticket system.
To the best of the knowledge of the Hanover Chamber of Crafts, none of the fished data has been unlawfully published. In this respect, there is a threat in terms of data protection law with regard to the potentially illegal use of third-party data. Therefore, no detailed information is possible at the moment.
h/t, @Chum1ng0