A targeted attack against the server infrastructure of IT.NRW, a central IT service provider for North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), occurred during Sunday’s local elections. The attempted denial-of-service attack aimed at the web server responsible for displaying election results was successfully thwarted, according to a spokesperson for IT.NRW.
While the attack occurred, it resulted in a brief interruption – approximately fifteen minutes between 6:00 PM and 6:15 PM – in the consistent accessibility of the results display. Crucially, the spokesperson confirmed that the transmission, recording and evaluation of election data itself remained unaffected throughout the election night.
The origin and perpetrators of the attack remain unknown. IT.NRW officials stated they are unable to identify those responsible, or the cause of separate connectivity issues experienced in certain areas of Münsterland and the Rhineland, as those regions rely on municipal IT service providers.
IT.NRW serves as a vital resource for the public administration of NRW, providing centralized IT services and statistics, including extensive tables detailing election results. The agency maintains a central database used for generating and distributing this information.