Hacker activity has recently targeted the websites of the state government and police in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, causing significant disruptions in accessibility since Thursday morning. State Digitization Minister Christian Pegel (SPD) noted the resemblance of these attacks to previous incidents in April and November of the preceding year, emphasizing their nature as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks aimed at overwhelming servers with mass requests. Last year, a Russian group had claimed responsibility for similar attacks, as confirmed by the Interior Ministry at the time.
The affected websites, including those of the state police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, are managed and technically supervised by the state’s IT service provider, the Data Processing Centre (DVZ) M-V. Specialist websites of individual departments have been particularly impacted, prompting experts to work tirelessly to mitigate further waves of attacks. Despite these efforts, Minister Pegel cautioned that additional attacks may occur, potentially leading to further disruptions in service.
In previous instances, cyberattacks have specifically targeted state police websites, highlighting the vulnerability of critical government infrastructure to malicious cyber activity. The region had also experienced similar attacks in April 2023, reflecting a persistent threat landscape that authorities must navigate. As efforts continue to secure and fortify digital infrastructure against evolving cyber threats, vigilance and proactive measures remain essential to safeguarding essential services and maintaining public trust in government institutions.
