A targeted cyberattack was attempted against IT.NRW, the central IT service provider for North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), during Sunday’s local elections. The attempt, classified as a denial-of-service attack aimed at overwhelming the web server responsible for displaying election results, was successfully thwarted.
According to a spokesperson for IT.NRW, the incident occurred during the period when election results were being published. While the display of results was intermittently unavailable for approximately fifteen minutes between 18:00 and 18:15, the core functions of election result transmission, data entry and evaluation remained unaffected. No further disruptions were reported throughout the remainder of election night.
The source and perpetrator of the attack remain unknown. IT.NRW officials stated that they cannot currently identify who was responsible for the attempted attack, nor can they pinpoint the cause of reported transmission issues experienced in parts of the Münsterland and Rhineland regions, as these areas rely on separate municipal IT service providers.
IT.NRW serves as a central provider of IT services and statistical data for the public administration in NRW and maintains a comprehensive database, including detailed tables of election results. The agency is responsible for supporting the secure and accurate processing of electoral data for the state.
