Overview
- Officials discovered the intrusion earlier this month and confirmed data was copied from two Senate departments that handle housing and mobility matters.
- The affected department networks were taken offline to contain the breach, causing about a week of service disruptions for some citizen services such as housing benefit processing.
- A group claiming to be the Rhysida ransomware gang posted alleged stolen files on a dark‑web leak site and demanded roughly 30 bitcoin, but Berlin has not verified the group's figures or the ransom demand.
- Governing Mayor Kai Wegner and Interior Senator Iris Spranger said the city will not pay the extortion demand as criminal and forensic probes proceed.
- The Berlin State Criminal Police Office, federal security agencies, and the public prosecutor’s office are jointly investigating, and officials are withholding operational details while they verify the scope of the theft and seek to identify those responsible.