Ransomware Chaos Hits German University of Applied Sciences (HS Kaiserslautern) | June 12 2023
Channel: Hacking Space Frontier 
Date: 12/06/2023

The Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences (HS Kaiserslautern) has fallen victim to a ransomware attack, joining several other German-speaking universities that have experienced similar incidents in recent months. The attack was confirmed by the university, which announced through an emergency website that its entire IT infrastructure had been taken offline, including email accounts and the telephone system. The attack has affected almost all facilities and services available to the university's 6,200 students, leading to the closure of computer pools and the library until further notice.

The university has warned students and staff not to turn on their work computers, as the attack involved encryption and may have affected the workstations. It remains unclear who is behind the attack and whether any information was stolen from the university's systems before they were encrypted, potentially as part of an extortion attempt.

HS Kaiserslautern is one of the largest applied science universities in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It joins a growing list of German-speaking universities focused on applied sciences that have been targeted by cybercriminals in recent months. These include the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, the University of Zurich in Switzerland, the Harz University of Applied Sciences, Ruhr West University, and the EU/FH European University of Applied Sciences.

Ransomware attacks have also affected private industry in Germany, with companies like Rheinmetall and Bitmarck, as well as drug development giant Evotec, experiencing similar incidents in the past months. These attacks highlight the increasing threat of ransomware to both educational institutions and private organizations in Germany and the need for robust cybersecurity measures.