Overview
- NRW’s justice ministry, which presented ZAC NRW’s annual report Friday in Cologne, said hospitals, energy providers and public agencies now face cyberattacks every day.
- Prosecutors reported that most cases are ransomware, where intruders lock company data with malware and demand payment to unlock files or keep them from being posted online.
- Investigators said gangs now split tasks and buy what they lack, from break‑in kits to payment and extortion support, and they increasingly use AI to spot and exploit weak points faster.
- Authorities plan to expand AI on the defense side, including tools that sift huge evidence sets in child sexual abuse cases so police can identify victims and suspects more quickly.
- Officials warned that small and mid‑sized firms are often poorly protected and frequently do not report incidents, while criminals can turn a newly disclosed software flaw into an attack within days, which makes fast patching critical.