Cyberattack on Südwestfalen-IT disrupts municipal services across Germany

On October 30, 2023, German municipal IT service provider Südwestfalen-IT shut down affected infrastructure following a cyberattack subsequently associated with ransomware. The outage disrupted IT systems used by dozens of municipalities, including digital citizen services, payment processing, invoicing and administrative communications. Official municipal notices reported that approximately 72 member municipalities were affected, while other connected administrations also experienced disruptions. Some public authorities resorted to telephone, paper and other manual procedures. The direct victim was the shared IT provider, with material disruption propagated to its municipal customers.