Frankfurt The leasing subsidiary of the German savings banks fell victim to a serious hacker attack and therefore had to send thousands of employees home. A spokeswoman for the company could not say on Tuesday evening when the IT systems can be started up again. The origin and motive of the attack are not yet known. A ransom demand has not yet been received, the spokeswoman said.
The attack on Deutsche Leasing AG was noticed by the internal security systems as early as Saturday morning, according to a statement on the website. The company reacted immediately according to an emergency plan and switched off access to the systems.
According to the spokeswoman, around 2,500 employees were asked not to appear in the office on Monday and Tuesday. The background is the ongoing investigation into the attack. When it makes sense to bring the employees back to the office is not foreseeable at the moment.
Together with external IT security consultants, Deutsche Leasing has been working “at high pressure to analyze the attack and secure traces” since the weekend. The aim is to analyze the details of the attack as quickly as possible and to make the systems and data available again”. The relevant investigative authorities are involved, according to the company’s website.
According to the spokeswoman, it is not yet clear whether data was also tapped during the hacker attack. Customers, especially medium-sized companies, are currently unable to access the systems either. The company, which is supported by around 350 savings banks, can now be reached by email again. Originally, the email system was also affected by the attack.
So far, there is no information about the motives of the hackers, explained the spokeswoman. A ransom demand has not yet been received.
In Germany, the security authorities have been warning of increased hacker attacks for months, also because of the Ukraine war. In May, the ATU chain of car repair shops was the victim of an attack. In April it hit the armaments group and automotive supplier Rheinmetall. At the time, the company confirmed “an IT incident in the group’s civilian business”. This division is mainly active as a supplier for the automotive industry. The military business was apparently not affected
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