Berlin is being blackmailed by hackers, mayor says

Berlin is being blackmailed by hackers who were able to compromise city systems and steal data earlier this month, its mayor has said.

Kai Wegner said officials would not cave in to the ransom demand, which came on Thursday evening. He did not say how much was being sought, though Der Spiegel reports the hackers are demanding 30 bitcoin, worth around €2m (£1.7m).

Some of the German capital's online systems were forced to close down as a result of the attack, while investigators were working to understand what data had been taken.

The Rhysida group, which is thought to operate from Russia and eastern Europe, and was behind a previous attack on the British Museum, has reportedly taken responsibility.

It has said on its website it intends to begin auctioning the 5.79 terabytes of data it was able to steal from Berlin in seven days' time, according to news agency Reuters.

He said state police, prosecutors and federal security services were working to investigate the suspected perpetrators "with the utmost urgency", adding that inquiries into the "content and scope of the compromised data are being pursued with great intensity".

Officials for the city-state said an initial data leak occurred between 7 and 12 August.

Then, on 14 August, two department networks were shut down, making applications for housing benefits and payments impossible for several days.