Hackers demand 30 bitcoin from Berlin as sensitive data breach widens

The Berlin state government has declined to comment on the demands made by hackers who targeted the city's administrative data network two weeks ago, a spokeswoman said on Saturday.

The government is also withholding information about which data the attackers accessed and exactly who is behind the cyberattack.

"For reasons of investigative tactics, we are not commenting on this at the present time," a spokeswoman told dpa on Saturday morning, adding that investigations into the cyberattack are ongoing.

According to a report by the German news magazine Der Spiegel, the hackers threatened to publish data unless the state of Berlin met their demands for payment.

The attack, which became public on August 14, was carried out by a group called Rhysida, which has been active for several years and uses specialist malware for extortion attempts, Der Spiegel reported.

The hackers demanded 30 bitcoin and threatened to publish data they had obtained during the cyberattack if their demands were not met, Der Spiegel reported, citing information from the group posted on the darknet.

The attackers accessed a large quantity of sensitive data, including records from administrative offence proceedings and passwords. At current rates, 30 bitcoin is worth around €2 million.

On Friday, Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner and the city state's equivalent of an interior minister, Iris Spranger, briefed the public on the extortion attempt after an emergency session of the city's executive, but gave no details. Wegner said: "The state of Berlin will not be blackmailed."

After the cyberattack became known, the transport and construction administrations - which were affected by the attack - were temporarily disconnected from the city network.

Initially, it was said that only publicly accessible data had been leaked. On Wednesday, the mayor's administrative office acknowledged that this was not the case.