Infrastructure failed

Cyber attack on city: trail leads to Russia

It is no longer just private victims: municipalities are no longer immune to vicious hacker attacks.(Bild: P. Huber)

A worldwide manhunt is underway for the two Russians suspected of attacking Tulln's critical infrastructure. The "Krone" has the mugshots!

A particularly striking wanted poster immediately catches the eye at Nuremberg Central Station: Russian citizens Igor Turashev and Igor Garshin are wanted by the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia because they are suspected of having carried out serious hacker attacks around the world. "Among them was a very problematic cyber attack on the University Hospital in Düsseldorf, in which a woman died due to the failure of the emergency room. The Funke media group was also hit by the attackers, who went by the name 'DoppelPaymer'," explains Krone cybersecurity expert Cornelius Granig.

Igor Turashev and Igor Garshin were wanted by the German police and could also be behind the hacker attack against the municipality of Tulln.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Landeskriminalamt Nordrhein-Westfalen)

Their clear objective: to target important companies and institutions in order to extort millions in ransom money. However, the internationally active mafia group, in which the two criminals apparently play a leading role, was responsible for the total loss of production at Salzburgmilch.

And - according to Granig, who is "computer-convinced" - it has also targeted several municipalities in Lower Austria. As reported, the municipality of Tulln was recently affected by an insidious attack using this specific ransomware.

All services available again
The all-clear has now been given: one week after the hacker attack, Tulln is fully operational again in terms of IT. Since Thursday, all services for citizens have been available again in the municipal administration and the other affected facilities - only the lending software of the municipal library has not yet been put back into operation. External IT experts, who have been assisting the city since the beginning, will monitor the systems for suspicious activities for some time.