District of Ludwigslust-Parchim
3000 tickets for the bin: hackers save speeders from fines
The work was in vain: no punishment awaits anyone caught by the police in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district between mid-October and the end of December 2021.
© Heiko Becker / Picture Alliance
In October 2021, a hacker attack paralyzed the Ludwigslust-Parchim district administration. Thousands of speed offenders, who should have paid for it, are now benefiting from this.
What sounds like a bad joke actually happened last year. Unknown hackers paralyzed Schwerin’s IT. This is now turning out to be very lucky for around 3000 speeders, who could not be promptly served with notices of speed violations – and the penalty is now statute-barred.
In plain language, this means: all speed camera photos and measurements from the period between mid-October and the end of December 2021 were free for the city – and the suspects. Because the systems were switched off, the fine proceedings could not be processed in time and have now been discontinued due to the statute of limitations. According to the authority, this also applies to procedures that are longer in the past, in which driving licenses were revoked.
Police have three months
Such a statute of limitations applies in Germany for exceeding the speed limit after three months. According to their own statements, the authorities were not able to access the data from the driver’s license office, nor were they able to query the owner and establish contact with the Federal Motor Transport Authority.
In the course of the hacker attack, the origin of which is still unknown, the district had to shut down all of its IT systems. The attack resulted in significant restrictions for the authorities concerned, citizens’ offices and online services were temporarily closed.
Attackers possibly from China
According to the public prosecutor’s office, malware called “DeepBlueMagic” was responsible for the chaos. This is so-called ransomware that encrypts data and thus paralyzes systems. Normally, those affected are then asked to pay a ransom in order to be able to access the locked files again. It is not yet known whether there was also an attempt at blackmail in this case, spokesmen for the offices concerned expressed different opinions. Experts suspect that it could be software from China – this has not been confirmed. The responsible IT and service company in Schwerin was only able to report an easing of the situation after five months. In the meantime, almost all systems are properly connected to the network again.
source: SVZ, SIS Schwerin