In brief: Two Berlin Senate departments were hacked and preemptively isolated from the state network, while the LKA, public prosecutor’s office and BSI investigate, with the scope and possible data exfiltration still unclear.
The Berlin Senate Chancellery has confirmed a cyberattack on the Senate Department for Urban Development as well as the Senate Department for Mobility and Environment. Both agencies were preemptively disconnected from the state network, and a crisis team has been set up.
According to the Senate Chancellery, the attack was detected during forensic investigations. Affected are the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing as well as the Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Environment and Climate Protection. Both agencies were already preemptively isolated from Berlin’s state network on Friday to prevent further spread.
The State Criminal Police Office (LKA), the Berlin public prosecutor’s office and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) are involved in the investigation. According to a spokesperson cited by dpa, the public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation. The emergency crisis team that has been established is being led by the State Commissioner for Information Security of the State of Berlin.
The Senate Chancellery cites investigative tactics as the reason for withholding further details. It remains unclear whether the affected departments are still able to operate and whether any data was exfiltrated.
For security officers in public authorities and companies with connections to the Berlin administration, the incident is an opportunity to review their own segmentation and isolation measures for critical network segments. The rapid disconnection of the affected departments from the state network shows that incident response processes with clear escalation paths to government bodies such as the BSI and LKA should be prepared before an incident occurs.
Source: www.it-daily.net · Published August 17, 2026
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