How the state must now react to cyber attacks

Objection Exclusive:

How the state must now react to cyber attacks

Guest post

From

Dirk Koch

Sep 8, 2026, 2:03 p.m. Reading time: 6 min.

Kai Wegner (CDU), Governing Mayor of Berlin, and Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) make a press statement in the Red City Hall after the hacker attack on parts of the Berlin administration.dpa

The attack on the Berlin administration shows: There is not a lack of knowledge or protective technology - but of consistent implementation and quick response.

If the state doesn't have smoke detectors, it won't notice the fire until the smoke is already wafting through the hallways. It is no different in cyberspace. There the fire smolders long before it becomes visible: in compromised accounts, unnoticed access, poorly monitored servers and end devices.