Hacker Attack on Telekom

This weeks hacker attack on Telekom was all over the news. Interviews were held on the radio and TV several times during the day giving the newest updates on the solution and cause of the hacker attack. The routers of 900 000 households were affected by this assault. This incident took an important role in the mass media. The reason for this was that not only Telekom customers were affected by the assault, it was an attack on routers all over the world.

This negative headline suddenly spread out through the mass media and it is not the first time this is happening in Germany. Last year one of the heaviest hacker attacks was accomplished on our government. It began less harmful but it eventually became dangerous because security was longer provided. Since last year the parliament is still working on a solution for this security gap. It is important to choose and discuss this topic in the news because today almost everyone is affected by this incident. As chancellor Angela Merkel states: “Nowadays such cyber-attacks belong to our daily life”. Therefore, readers and listeners need to be informed about it. But it is not enough just to provide people with information, but rather tell them how to solve and deal with them. However, news like these should not irritate and scare our community. This is also what Mrs. Merkel emphasizes: People need to know that cyber-attacks exist and how they can live with them. (http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/internet-angriff-auf-telekom-router-war-ein-kompletter-reinfall-1.3271914)

For sure this kind of story is not spread in the news if it would not concern so many people in our world. Also the thought that Telekom might be afraid of loosing their customers due to this security gap and therefore, gaining a bad reputation. I do not think that this might be the case. Since we are nowadays all dependent on telephone, internet, … it is very meaningful to be informed about attacks that concern our daily lives.