4 ms·

Berlin is being blackmailed by hackers

62 points by dudefeliciano 1mo ago

293725903 1mo ago
[dead]
guillybarres 1mo ago
Isn't 2 million euros a bit of a lowball demand for a city the size of Berlin? In any case, it's good they're not paying.
- Towaway69 1mo ago
  That‘ll teach the bad guys! Pity about all those that will have their private data auctioned off. I‘m sure that the good guys will catch the badies in the nick of time to prevent a data auction. Just in time for a good game of tennis and a happy end. Thanks to Hollywood we have nothing to worry about. I‘m glad _they_‘re not paying and really looking forward to having my private data turn up somewhere I never intended due to _their_ incompetence. I’m sure _they_ can’t help it because of course _they_ aren’t at fault - it was the badies.
  - OKRainbowKid 1mo ago
    I'd rather they not pay and my data gets leaked along with everybody else's, than for them to pay and give incentives for future blackmail.
  - 028363922092 1mo ago
    [flagged]
- edelbitter 1mo ago
  Not like Berlin could have paid anyway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqb6qYBdvX8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqb6qYBdvX8
a012 1mo ago
There’s no information of what was leaked besides ~5TB of data? And since they don’t intend to pay then they’ll just pretend nothing happened?
- fwn 1mo ago
  Neither the media nor politicians are interested in hyping up the issue right before the state election on Sep 20. So it's probably just what you suggested: pretending that nothing happened.
  - lifestyleguru 1mo ago
    Anecdotally from another EU country, the politicians simply insolently ignore the data leaks. Victims will be punished though with a wave of "beware of scammers" communication, increasingly invasive identification, and institutional erosion of their privacy.
    - inigyou 1mo ago
      And because it's a government, it doesn't have to comply with any of the data breach laws.
      - itemize123 1mo ago
        literally not how it works.
        inigyou 27d ago
        [dead]
- inigyou 27d ago
  [dead]
Gerard22Aug 1mo ago
[dead]
lifestyleguru 1mo ago
Allegedly hackers gained access to data about true DSL speeds in Berlin's households, waiting times for Anmeldung, and scandalous ratio of rental deposit returns from landlords. In short Berlin is cooked but it also always has been.
- bewareofscams 1mo ago
  [flagged]
  - dudefeliciano 1mo ago
    Interesting how all those flagged comments contribute nothing (as does yours), are gleeful in an antisocial way about leaked data, and the accounts posting them are all less than a month old (including yours).
    - dashdashu 1mo ago
      well, it would be foolish to think only reddit and other social media platforms are overrun with bots wanting to manipulate, shift sentiment and manufacture dissent.
      - bewareofscams 1mo ago
        it would also be foolish to think the sets "humans" and "those who write germany is a backwards country" never overlap. (I've used "write" to account for bots in the latter set too).
    - Towaway69 1mo ago
      Who is being anti-social? Those that gleefully damning Berlin for its incompetence or those that caused the incompetence? The politicians who go play tennis while Berlin burns?[0] Politics in Germany and Berlin specifically has been extremely anti-social. From referendums[1] that get ignored to a decades old housing problem from which investors are the only benefactors. To positive social movements such as "zu Verschenken"[2] that get banned[3] ... because well ... because you're not meant to share. I think the anti-social label is well earned on both sides of the fence. Only the politicians are meant to serve those that voted for them, not serve themselves. The irony is that SAP/Oracle/MS/BCG and co. will benefit from this because the city will now spend more money on consultants that were meant to prevent this. "Nice data you have there, shame if it leaked like last time. How about some more licenses or consultants?" [0] https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/berlin-buergermeister-kai-wegner-spielte-offenbar-tennis-waehrend-des-stromausfalls-a-3631e5a4-4bba-4d2d-837c-77bc5f180083 https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/berlin-buergermeister-kai-we... (german) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Wohnen_%26_Co._enteignen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Wohnen_%26_Co._enteig... [2] https://www.lostinberlin.com/the-zu-verschenken-culture-in-berlin/ https://www.lostinberlin.com/the-zu-verschenken-culture-in-b... [3] https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2025/08/berlin-bussgeld-katalog-verschenke-kisten.html https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2025/08/berlin-bussgel... (german)
Towaway69 1mo ago
How could this have been prevented? Serious question that anyone familiar with the "Verwaltung" (Administration) here in Berlin should ask themselves. Because the fact is, it couldn't have been. For one thing, how does one analysis and find vulnerabilities in a system? By doing pen-testing but is that legal here? Why didn't someone from the CCC[1] or BSI[2] actually do a pen-test and discover the vulnerability that was used? Particularly the CCC who like to point fingers and complain about how bad security is. Why didn't they simply do a pen-test and tell the "Verwaltung" about what they found? Probably because they knew that the "Verwaltung" would proceed with legal fixes instead of system fixes, i.e., making hacking even more illegal than it already is. Meanwhile all the Consultants that the city pays pretended everything was super secure because well ... well because it all Microsoft so it must be secure. We even have the licenses to prove it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Computer_Club https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Computer_Club [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Office_for_Information_Security https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Office_for_Information...
- okr 1mo ago
  I think it has to do with the fact, that "white" hacking is illegal? I am sure people would like to help out and harden the systems. But i am also not sure, what actually happened. Once ya in a system, all is lost. And the culture around credentials is in my opinion a lost case anyways. I do not know where IT has gone a wrong path. Either security it is super high and you can not do anything (hello bureaucracy) or you can do more, but you become more vulnerable. Anyways. Data is the new Oil, government said.
inigyou 1mo ago
"Two of the worst people you know are fighting."

62 points by dudefeliciano 1mo ago

[dead]

Isn't 2 million euros a bit of a lowball demand for a city the size of Berlin? In any case, it's good they're not paying.

Towaway69 1mo ago
That‘ll teach the bad guys! Pity about all those that will have their private data auctioned off. I‘m sure that the good guys will catch the badies in the nick of time to prevent a data auction. Just in time for a good game of tennis and a happy end. Thanks to Hollywood we have nothing to worry about. I‘m glad _they_‘re not paying and really looking forward to having my private data turn up somewhere I never intended due to _their_ incompetence. I’m sure _they_ can’t help it because of course _they_ aren’t at fault - it was the badies.
- OKRainbowKid 1mo ago
  I'd rather they not pay and my data gets leaked along with everybody else's, than for them to pay and give incentives for future blackmail.
- 028363922092 1mo ago
  [flagged]
edelbitter 1mo ago
Not like Berlin could have paid anyway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqb6qYBdvX8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqb6qYBdvX8

a012 1mo ago

There’s no information of what was leaked besides ~5TB of data? And since they don’t intend to pay then they’ll just pretend nothing happened?

fwn 1mo ago
Neither the media nor politicians are interested in hyping up the issue right before the state election on Sep 20. So it's probably just what you suggested: pretending that nothing happened.
- lifestyleguru 1mo ago
  Anecdotally from another EU country, the politicians simply insolently ignore the data leaks. Victims will be punished though with a wave of "beware of scammers" communication, increasingly invasive identification, and institutional erosion of their privacy.
  - inigyou 1mo ago
    And because it's a government, it doesn't have to comply with any of the data breach laws.
    - itemize123 1mo ago
      literally not how it works.
      - inigyou 27d ago
        [dead]
inigyou 27d ago
[dead]

Gerard22Aug 1mo ago

[dead]

lifestyleguru 1mo ago

Allegedly hackers gained access to data about true DSL speeds in Berlin's households, waiting times for Anmeldung, and scandalous ratio of rental deposit returns from landlords. In short Berlin is cooked but it also always has been.

bewareofscams 1mo ago
[flagged]
- dudefeliciano 1mo ago
  Interesting how all those flagged comments contribute nothing (as does yours), are gleeful in an antisocial way about leaked data, and the accounts posting them are all less than a month old (including yours).
  - dashdashu 1mo ago
    well, it would be foolish to think only reddit and other social media platforms are overrun with bots wanting to manipulate, shift sentiment and manufacture dissent.
    - bewareofscams 1mo ago
      it would also be foolish to think the sets "humans" and "those who write germany is a backwards country" never overlap. (I've used "write" to account for bots in the latter set too).
  - Towaway69 1mo ago
    Who is being anti-social? Those that gleefully damning Berlin for its incompetence or those that caused the incompetence? The politicians who go play tennis while Berlin burns?[0] Politics in Germany and Berlin specifically has been extremely anti-social. From referendums[1] that get ignored to a decades old housing problem from which investors are the only benefactors. To positive social movements such as "zu Verschenken"[2] that get banned[3] ... because well ... because you're not meant to share. I think the anti-social label is well earned on both sides of the fence. Only the politicians are meant to serve those that voted for them, not serve themselves. The irony is that SAP/Oracle/MS/BCG and co. will benefit from this because the city will now spend more money on consultants that were meant to prevent this. "Nice data you have there, shame if it leaked like last time. How about some more licenses or consultants?" [0] https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/berlin-buergermeister-kai-wegner-spielte-offenbar-tennis-waehrend-des-stromausfalls-a-3631e5a4-4bba-4d2d-837c-77bc5f180083 https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/berlin-buergermeister-kai-we... (german) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Wohnen_%26_Co._enteignen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Wohnen_%26_Co._enteig... [2] https://www.lostinberlin.com/the-zu-verschenken-culture-in-berlin/ https://www.lostinberlin.com/the-zu-verschenken-culture-in-b... [3] https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2025/08/berlin-bussgeld-katalog-verschenke-kisten.html https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2025/08/berlin-bussgel... (german)

Towaway69 1mo ago

How could this have been prevented? Serious question that anyone familiar with the "Verwaltung" (Administration) here in Berlin should ask themselves. Because the fact is, it couldn't have been. For one thing, how does one analysis and find vulnerabilities in a system? By doing pen-testing but is that legal here? Why didn't someone from the CCC[1] or BSI[2] actually do a pen-test and discover the vulnerability that was used? Particularly the CCC who like to point fingers and complain about how bad security is. Why didn't they simply do a pen-test and tell the "Verwaltung" about what they found? Probably because they knew that the "Verwaltung" would proceed with legal fixes instead of system fixes, i.e., making hacking even more illegal than it already is. Meanwhile all the Consultants that the city pays pretended everything was super secure because well ... well because it all Microsoft so it must be secure. We even have the licenses to prove it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Computer_Club https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Computer_Club [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Office_for_Information_Security https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Office_for_Information...

okr 1mo ago
I think it has to do with the fact, that "white" hacking is illegal? I am sure people would like to help out and harden the systems. But i am also not sure, what actually happened. Once ya in a system, all is lost. And the culture around credentials is in my opinion a lost case anyways. I do not know where IT has gone a wrong path. Either security it is super high and you can not do anything (hello bureaucracy) or you can do more, but you become more vulnerable. Anyways. Data is the new Oil, government said.

inigyou 1mo ago

"Two of the worst people you know are fighting."