Backlog in digitalization and IT security in authorities
The fact that municipalities outsource their IT structure and therefore digital security is problematic, says Karsten Zimmer, who is often commissioned by companies to put their security measures to the test and break into networks as a test. “It is of course much, much easier for the hacker to attack one institution, one company, than to attack hundreds of municipalities.”
Stricter controls on IT companies are needed: “The service providers would have to be certified and they would also have to get help.“He sees a big mistake in system houses that deliver everything from a single source. “This means that the system house supplies hardware and software, provides advice and at the same time offers security advice.”
Instead, says Zimmer, external advice on security is needed. For example, hacker attacks could be simulated and vulnerabilities identified before criminals digitally paralyze entire regions.
Digitalization is a huge task for small municipalities
Martin Hoffmann is the mayor of Leopoldshöhe in East Westphalia-Lippe; before that he was a professor of computer science. He knows how difficult digitalization is for smaller municipalities. It would hardly be possible to do everything yourself, but it would also be difficult to give everything away. It needs “the necessary middle ground between centralized and decentralized. Data centers are exactly the right thing, not every municipality for itself and not just one large provider.“
However, there must also be clear boundaries as to who processes which things digitally: “So, in my opinion, a smart approach is to actually keep this data that the municipalities have in the state’s hands. And that we keep them in our data center so that we can physically access them if things get really tough.“
The state wants to better support municipalities in digitalization. According to Digital Minister Scharrenbach, it is important to first query the municipalities: “Who is using what? Who is already how far along in digitalization?” In this way, digitalization can be advanced in a precise manner. This has already happened in the first work processes, but “We basically need that for every other procedure too, so that we have a common understanding of it. Where is it going well? Where is it not going well?”. But that, says Scharrenbach, will take time.
Investigations into the South Westphalia-IT case are ongoing
The central and contact point for cybercrime (ZAC NRW) at the Cologne public prosecutor’s office has taken over the investigation into the hacker attack on South Westphalia IT. Even for the authority, which only deals with large digital criminal cases, it is a special challenge, says public prosecutor Christoph Hebbecker. The public prosecutor’s office does not comment on the investigations or possible security gaps.
In principle, it is difficult for the authorities to locate the often international groups of perpetrators. It will be even more difficult to bring them to court.
“We see that the attacks are becoming more professional and we see that the attackers are also increasingly dividing up their labor.” There is a clear division of labor between hackers, ransom negotiators and data sellers on the Darknet.
WDR will also report on this topic on December 10, 2023 in “Westpol” on WDR television.
2023-12-09 15:32:08
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