need access to servers, and these are located all over the world. it's an invisible network of digital systems that is developed over the years, elements of critical infrastructure unconnected even across borders. this means individual components increasingly depend on one another. a wind farm and germany is connected to u. s. satellites. for example, if the satellites fail, the wind turbines come to a standstill. ah, what's particularly alarming critical infrastructure is not only threatened by individual cyber criminals, state institutions can also be behind the attacks. there were also cyber attacks during the 1st days of the war and ukraine. literally, as russian tanks rolling over the border into ukraine. we also saw digital components to the attack, including an attack on a satellite network. one that's even used by weight turbines, in germany. any disruption to these invisible digital connections can result in a domino effect. this can put the critical infrastructure of an entire society at risk. cyber attacks usually don't make a grand entrance. them a quiet and inconspicuous a careless click in an email on a website can open the door to heck us companies and even government institutions can be affect it in the background into, to gain access to further service. in the network, only once these hackers take over a large part of the digital structure, they strike openly. this is possible because the digital networks a so large and old methods of cyber security, i'm no longer effective. classic model would be almost like a chest. so with a mo, everything inside would be precious and everything outside would be malicious. this is a mode of the doesn't work in the post covered age where we are connecting from everywhere . the question is no more willing to take her get in because every one knows in a take a will get it. you have to protect yourself. finding out when someone gets in and the best cases finding it out very on a very early stage. but why do attackers seem to easily succeed in hacking networks? almost every company now has cyber security experts. and they are constantly installing new anti virus software all firewalls. but even the best security measures fil, again and again, because of the same problem, people i t experts i've been eclipse, tough a story of the day when hackers shut down the systems in the administration. she supervisors. sabina creeps is the chief digital officer and the county of am had bits of felt, an area between berlin and light safe home to around a 160000 people. in the summer of 2021, the county's administration fell victim to a cyber attack. this visit would be, it was early in the morning at 6 30 am the 1st call reached the i t department of someone turned on the computer and said nothing's working here right now. yeah, files are encrypting it vatton home. i was working from home and got a call i think, and when i went in, we still assumed we have an attack. now that will be solved in a very short time. it's inadequate and that i everything will be resolved within the next few days to be dozens compatible. but most cool started coming in employees from all over the district complained that their computers had stopped working. the i t expert team such the system and came across a ransom note because i'm happy to set you up as low as that. that's i think they were addressing us personally. and cuz someone had clearly spent time in preparing this attacked him. that's when they knew this wasn't just another cyber attack. this time it was really serious. because since at 6 when the computer, if the i t administrator with all the rights encrypted itself, that's when we knew we had a problem. the hackers were part of a group called pay all grief. they demanded $500000.00 euros as a ransom paid in the crypto currency manero. the i t manager at the time oliver humph. explains why the district decided not to pay. obama said of an i was going over times we had to ask ourselves, it was okay if we pay the ransom now because we really good key them. oh, we knew they had been in our system. oh, but who's to say they didn't put some back doors to attack again and encrypt again . but how did the heck us get into the system? in the benefit example, it is no longer possible to fully find out because whether its the road traffic authority or the registry office, people everywhere i worked with network computing systems. to can access without anyone noticing their various tricks and methods. at the beginning of a cyber attack, intruders try to gain access to the computer network. they use various methods currently so called fishing a most of the most successful trick to access systems. one click on a supposedly secure attachment or link will install malware on a computer. intruders can then still passwords and access codes. often, they disguised themselves as trusted contacts, and nor people into revealing their log in data. this type of credential theft relies on other people's good faith poorly secured servers that haven't been updated with the latest security updates can be an easy way into the network for hackers. once inside, the intruders can spend weeks or even months looking for important information. they look for data so valuable that people would pay money to get it back when they find what they're looking for. they encrypt the data and send a message to their victims offering a decryption key. in return for a ransom victims were left for 2 options to pay up and trust that they get their data back or to refuse and hope that they can recover some of the hijacked data. and that's not all the hackers often threatened with double extortion. they don't on encrypt the data of their victims, but also public sensitive information on the dock web. if no, rand this page at the end of 2022 sensitive data from a major, austria and health insurance company ended up on the dock web. personal information was released about policyholders, who were treated for substance abuse stds or abortions. the heck us wanted to pressure the insurance company to pay, pulled a secured service of large companies can become a threat to individual customers. and this wasn't an i faded case for cyber security analyst, karen ellis, ari, it's a booming industry and it's an industry that has managers, planners, developers, criminal groups, took advantage of the call with demick and the changes to all of our lives, to attack health care institutions public institutions, local authorities, critical infrastructure around the world is at the mercy of these cyber attacks. and hackers look for the targets where they expect the greatest profit, most in north america and western europe. but also other regions are hit by these well coordinated attacks. in 2019 attackers broke into the network of india's largest nuclear power station. in 2021, an attack on a pipeline provider led to panic, buying and gas shortages in the u. s. and in 2022, hackers paralyzed the computer systems of the government of costa rica. each of these incidents had impact locally in the country or the region where it happened. however, should an adversary a cyber attack group decide to launch several attacks at the same time simultaneously in many different countries around the low impacts to that would be potentially devastating. can a cyber attack, excess shut down an anti a nation? as a result of digitization and recent years, some parts of infrastructure have undergone massive changes, and many things can no longer be done without digital systems. now back to our case from germany. how exactly did the attack impact the critical infrastructure? that's my son. elsewhere you don't see from the outside is that the software of the offices is connected within our i t infrastructure protocol to and nothing works anymore. no cash register software, no alarm system. and in the small county, in the middle of germany, the public infrastructure failed completely. all authorities responsible for around 160000 people had to close. the citizens were worried, elemental attack they forwarded april. wonder can be office to pay out welfare, alimony, or benefits for the elderly high. i think he follows the sign. only very slowly did it become clear what impact a cyber attack had on both the population and the administration. i'll admit that it's looks once a yahoo followed the olympic we've lost all e mails and the last 20 years, they're all gone and we'll never get them back league we're little. but how do i explain that to my colleagues and employees? sorry, everything's gone home because many use their e mail system as a filing system and an archive system to store all the emails there. other units, if by young to oh my, can forget click the situation with so messy that the district declared a state of emergency that normally only happens during natural disasters like huge floods, but not because of a cyber attack. ah, that way the armed forces could send their cyber experts to help the authorities regain control of the network. happenstance that really helped us because at the time our i t team did not have enough manpower about the fine it still took weeks until the authorities were slowly operating. again this had a massive impact on the people in the region. the full car dealership, for example, couldn't register any new vehicles for a period of 4 weeks as the authorities in question weren't able to work. and without license plates, cars couldn't be delivered to new owners. sales came to a halt, a bitter loss for the company. ah, once as in that quarter, we made a loss of approximately $750000.00 euros, follow it up all in all, it took the county about a year to repair all the systems, not to mention the financial damage. the threat of cyber crime is growing. that's why we need to know more about everything that's interconnected in our society. as you haven't been affected by a cyber attack, let us know on youtube or d, w dot com. that's it for me today, sir. again, next time, bye. ah ah ah oh, hello guys, this is the 77 percent. the platform for africa is you to beat issues and share ideas. ah, you know, or this channel, we are not afraid to happen delicate topic because population is growing fast. and young people clearly have the solution. the future belongs with the 77 percent every weekend on the w. my knees with getting ahead, using tech as our documentary series of founders valley. it's africa to meet the founders empowering their continent through digital innovation, a transformer, work about health and living conditions in their country and inspiring the world with their ideas. thunder valley africa watch. now on the w documentary.