Germany’s largest leasing association targeted by cyberattack

German leasing association ‘Deutsche Leasing’ reported a cyberattack on its systems on Saturday morning (3 May), forcing them to put down their IT services. The association only made the attack public on Tuesday.

The German leasing association ‘Deutsche Leasing’, which is owned by 350 German saving banks (Sparkassen) reported a cyberattack on its website, stating that the IT system has been switched off, including its data and email system.

The German leasing association occupies the lead market position in the German SME sector and is considered among Europe’s top 5 leasing providers, covering 20 countries worldwide.

“We are currently unable to access a large part of our IT systems and data. Our email system is also affected by the attack,” Deutsche Leasing wrote on its website.

Impact assessment

Since the IT system has been switched off, the 2,850 employees as well as customers, among them SMEs, are also affected and unable to access the systems.

New leasing contracts can be signed on paper with the sales staff, but they cannot be transferred to the IT systems and activated.

The wider implications of the attack are as yet unknown, alongside whether there was a ransom demand issued, or the attack involved ransomware.

The subsidiaries Deutsche Anlagen-Leasing (DAL) and Deutsche Factoring Bank (DFB) are unaffected by the shutdown. Since both subsidiaries have separate IT systems, there are currently no indications that the problem will spread, the company spokesperson elaborated, according to FAZ.

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Rebooting the systems

“The objective is to analyse the details of the attack as quickly as possible and to make the systems and data available again. The relevant investigative authorities are involved,” the statement on its website said.

At present, it is not possible to predict when the systems can be rebooted.

Based on recent cyberattacks, extensive IT shutdowns can be estimated to take more than a month until a certain level of normality in business operations is restored.

[Edited by Oliver Noyan/Nathalie Weatherald]

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