Further (small) progress in eliminating the consequences of the hacker attack on Carinthia: The office of the Carinthian provincial government and the district authorities (BH) can be reached again via e-mail and telephone. At least as far as possible, as Gerd Kurath, head of the state press service (LPD), explained on Monday morning: “There can still be problems with individual accounts and telephone connections, but for the most part it’s working again.”
Since Monday, the public prosecutor’s office (StA) in Klagenfurt has been investigating unknown perpetrators on suspicion of severe extortion, as StA spokesman Markus Kitz confirms. The basis is a (first) report by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism. No further information can be given at the moment, according to Kitz. According to Kurath, a statement of the state’s facts is also on its way to the public prosecutor’s office.
payment delayed
The payment dates scheduled for this week for the “basic services for privately housed people in need of help and protection in Carinthia” have to be canceled for the time being, the LPD announced in a broadcast on Tuesday. After the hacking, some of the applications needed for the payout would not work yet. The payment dates would have been scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, in Klagenfurt and on Thursday in the districts. The dates that have now been canceled are to be made up for as soon as the system goes back into operation.
Backlog at passports
By the middle of the week at the latest – according to Kurath maybe earlier – the BH will be able to issue passports and driver’s licenses again. “We are confident that it will work out soon,” says Kurath. It is not yet certain when exactly this will happen: “We will inform the public immediately.” In order to work off the already large backlog after the corona pandemic, especially when issuing passports, the district authorities will issue these documents “also in the afternoons, outside of party traffic”, says Kurath. And: The BH will actively contact the applicants and arrange appointments as quickly as possible. According to the head of the state press service, it is not possible to say how large the backlog of passports is in Carinthia.
It is still unclear whether and which data the hackers stole. However, after consulting the IT experts, he, Kurath, still assumes that no data has been lost. It is not yet possible to quantify how much it will cost to repair the damage caused by the hacker attack.
No money for “BlackCat”
The hacker group “BlackCat” is behind the attack on the country’s IT system. She is demanding five million euros from the state to provide software that can be used to reverse the encryption code. “The country cannot be blackmailed. We will not pay the requested amount“Kurath emphasizes once more.
Exchange of blows between Köfer and Kaiser
Meanwhile, there is a violent exchange of blows between Team Carinthia and SPÖ in the cause. Member of the state parliament and Spittal’s mayor Gerhard Köfer criticizes Peter Kaiser’s absence the previous week: “Applications are left pending, payments are a long time coming, passports cannot be issued, the pandemic management is idle: All of this seems to interest Kaiser little or not at all , there is no other way to explain this absence in this phase. It is an escape from responsibility.” Köfer misses leadership and managerial competence at Kaiser and subsequently also at the state office director.
The reply is just as clear: “After the insidious attack by an international criminal organization on the state of Carinthia, the governor immediately and in close coordination with the state’s IT experts and with the state police headquarters took appropriate steps to ensure the greatest possible protection of data and at the same time to pay out social support services without major delays,” said Kaiser spokesman Andreas Schäfermeier. Unfortunately, the unqualified attacks on the state governor correspond to the only, dubious “competence” of the opposition.