German applied sciences university announces being hit by criminal cyberattack

Hochschule Kempten, a university of applied sciences in the city of Kempten in Germany, has announced being targeted by a criminal cyberattack that forced the institution to take down its IT infrastructure.

The attack against the university — which has approximately 5,500 students and is based in Bavaria, close to the mountainous border with Austria — is the latest to affect the technical education sector in Germany.

In a statement published Tuesday, the institution said: “Despite very high security precautions, the criminals managed to gain access to parts of the university’s IT infrastructure.”

Access to several IT systems were blocked as a precaution, meaning the university cannot currently be reached by email, although the telephone system is still working.

“All those responsible are currently working hard to stop the attack, the extent of which cannot yet be estimated,” stated Kempten, adding that it was not possible to say when the university’s IT systems and services would be running normally again.

The attack follows a spate of ransomware incidents affecting German-speaking applied sciences universities last year.

The Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences (HS Kaiserslautern) announced an incident last June, while in March the Vice Society ransomware group added the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg) to its leak site following an attack that the institution said took place late last year.

In February the University of Zurich, Switzerland’s largest university, announced it was the target of a “serious cyberattack,” which a spokesperson described to The Record as “part of a current accumulation of attacks on educational and health institutions.”

The week before, the Harz University of Applied Sciences in Saxony-Anhalt, Ruhr West University, and the EU/FH European University of Applied Sciences all announced being impacted by cyberattacks.

That followed in January the Vice Society ransomware group claiming responsibility for a November attack against the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.