Berlin City Under Cyber Siege, Mayor Declares Will Not Pay Ransom

Berlin’s mayor, Kai Wegner, announced the city will refuse to meet a ransomware demand after hackers compromised several municipal networks and stole a large trove of data.

The attackers, identified as the Rhysida group with links to Russia and Eastern Europe, have publicly claimed 30 bitcoin (roughly €2 million) as their ransom and say they will auction the stolen 5.79 TB of data in seven days.

City services were temporarily disabled; housing‑benefit applications and housing payment systems ran for several days before the city could restore them. City authorities are investigating the leak’s scope, aware that personal and non‑public data may have been exposed.

Wegner emphasized that Berlin will not be blackmailed, stressing that state police, prosecutors and federal security services are acting “with the utmost urgency” to trace the attackers and assess the damage.

Even though the city’s election infrastructure was reportedly intact, the incident underscores the heightened risk to public‑sector networks as elections approach.

Earlier this year, Rhysida breached the British Museum’s system, claiming 500,000 files and releasing sensitive data after the museum refused to pay. The present attack demonstrates the group’s continued focus on regional governments and institutions.