Serious question that anyone familiar with the "Verwaltung" (Administration) here in Berlin should ask themselves. Because the fact is, it couldn't have been.
For one thing, how does one analysis and find vulnerabilities in a system? By doing pen-testing but is that legal here? Why didn't someone from the CCC[1] or BSI[2] actually do a pen-test and discover the vulnerability that was used?
Particularly the CCC who like to point fingers and complain about how bad security is. Why didn't they simply do a pen-test and tell the "Verwaltung" about what they found? Probably because they knew that the "Verwaltung" would proceed with legal fixes instead of system fixes, i.e., making hacking even more illegal than it already is.
Meanwhile all the Consultants that the city pays pretended everything was super secure because well ... well because it all Microsoft so it must be secure. We even have the licenses to prove it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Computer_Club
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Office_for_Information...
But i am also not sure, what actually happened. Once ya in a system, all is lost.
And the culture around credentials is in my opinion a lost case anyways. I do not know where IT has gone a wrong path. Either security it is super high and you can not do anything (hello bureaucracy) or you can do more, but you become more vulnerable.
Anyways. Data is the new Oil, government said.
I‘m sure that the good guys will catch the badies in the nick of time to prevent a data auction.
Just in time for a good game of tennis and a happy end. Thanks to Hollywood we have nothing to worry about.
I‘m glad _they_‘re not paying and really looking forward to having my private data turn up somewhere I never intended due to _their_ incompetence. I’m sure _they_ can’t help it because of course _they_ aren’t at fault - it was the badies.
The politicians who go play tennis while Berlin burns?[0] Politics in Germany and Berlin specifically has been extremely anti-social. From referendums[1] that get ignored to a decades old housing problem from which investors are the only benefactors. To positive social movements such as "zu Verschenken"[2] that get banned[3] ... because well ... because you're not meant to share.
I think the anti-social label is well earned on both sides of the fence. Only the politicians are meant to serve those that voted for them, not serve themselves.
The irony is that SAP/Oracle/MS/BCG and co. will benefit from this because the city will now spend more money on consultants that were meant to prevent this. "Nice data you have there, shame if it leaked like last time. How about some more licenses or consultants?"
[0] https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/berlin-buergermeister-kai-we... (german)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Wohnen_%26_Co._enteig...
[2] https://www.lostinberlin.com/the-zu-verschenken-culture-in-b...
[3] https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2025/08/berlin-bussgel... (german)
You are being aggressively antisocial and nihilistic and crowing over the misfortune befalling thousands.
I neither crow nor care what happens to thousands of people, why should I. I'm merely pointing out that politicians don't have an automatic right to be anti-social just because they have the power.
And if someone accuses someone else of being anti-social, then I would also like to point out that they aren't the only ones being anti-social. It's a philosophical point of view, not a nihilistic of one.
> Who is being anti-social?
then you continue:
> I neither crow nor care what happens to thousands of people, why should I.
Do you think Berliners are happy that the referendums they voted for are getting ignored? The current mayors party has the lowest approval ratings ever. The current chancellor of the same party is the most hated in German history.
And then come some big-shots here talking about how it's well-deserved that a city of 4 million people got hacked and who knows what data leaked.
Germany is still a very much top-down society where people get talked down to and only those with the right connections (i.e. financial or educational or heritage) get taken seriously.
Spend time in any english speaking place and you still - might - notice a difference how the media interacts with those in power and more importantly, how the media interacts with their audience. German media very much talks down to its audience and up to those in power.
P.S. What I learnt today is that the head of the BSI is Claudia Plattner and the founder of SAP is Hasso Plattner - Coincidence? Relation? ~~What a surprise! Again is this a sign that security is taken seriously or that connections count?~~ No relation, mea culpa.
> Coincidence? Relation?
https://rp-online.de/politik/deutschland/claudia-plattner-di...
(I've used "write" to account for bots in the latter set too).