The negligence of system administrators threatens the security of Germany.
German authorities have expressed serious concern about the threat of large-scale cyber attacks, which affect about 17,000 (about 37%) of all Microsoft Exchange servers in the country. The Federal Information Security Agency (BSI) has warned of a "massive disruption to regular operations" in the IT sector, describing the situation as "critical for business".
The main reason for the alarm was the "catastrophic" security situation with the use of Microsoft Exchange, a key communication tool for many German companies and organizations. While in 2021, almost half of Exchange servers in Germany were hacked and equipped with backdoors, at the moment more than a third of all available systems are described as "highly vulnerable", and more than half are simply "vulnerable".
BSI focuses not on Microsoft, but on system administrators who, in their opinion, did not take well-known and necessary security measures. According to the German publication Heise, only a "pathetic" 15% of servers in Germany use the latest version of Exchange, while many still work on vulnerable and outdated versions, including those that Microsoft no longer supports.
Schools and universities, clinics, doctors offices, nursing services and other medical institutions, as well as lawyers, tax consultants, local governments and medium-sized businesses are particularly threatened. They are at risk of cyber attacks, including "data encryption followed by ransomware," the BSI warns.
The agency encourages organizations to take immediate action, including removing outdated versions of Exchange, installing all security patches and cumulative update packages, and activating advanced protection.
German authorities have expressed serious concern about the threat of large-scale cyber attacks, which affect about 17,000 (about 37%) of all Microsoft Exchange servers in the country. The Federal Information Security Agency (BSI) has warned of a "massive disruption to regular operations" in the IT sector, describing the situation as "critical for business".
The main reason for the alarm was the "catastrophic" security situation with the use of Microsoft Exchange, a key communication tool for many German companies and organizations. While in 2021, almost half of Exchange servers in Germany were hacked and equipped with backdoors, at the moment more than a third of all available systems are described as "highly vulnerable", and more than half are simply "vulnerable".
BSI focuses not on Microsoft, but on system administrators who, in their opinion, did not take well-known and necessary security measures. According to the German publication Heise, only a "pathetic" 15% of servers in Germany use the latest version of Exchange, while many still work on vulnerable and outdated versions, including those that Microsoft no longer supports.
Schools and universities, clinics, doctors offices, nursing services and other medical institutions, as well as lawyers, tax consultants, local governments and medium-sized businesses are particularly threatened. They are at risk of cyber attacks, including "data encryption followed by ransomware," the BSI warns.
The agency encourages organizations to take immediate action, including removing outdated versions of Exchange, installing all security patches and cumulative update packages, and activating advanced protection.
