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Bitcoin hotel hack victim speaks out

An Austrian hotel manager who went public with the fact that he had been blackmailed four times into paying a Bitcoin ransom to cybercriminals has been praised for speaking out.

Published: 31 January 2017 20:48 CET
Bitcoin hotel hack victim speaks out
Photo: Seehotel Jaegerwirt

The story of how hackers took control of the hotel's room locks ended up being reported all over the world from CNN and Newsweek through to The Times, CNBC, Yahoo News UK, The Verge, Gizmodo, IB Times, The Register, PC Magazine, Softpedia News, Forbes, Daily Star, the Huffington Post and The Sun to name but a few.

With relatively small amounts of money involved for most businesses that fall victim to the criminals, it is believed that thousands of firms are falling prey to the cyber criminals, but that they prefer to stay silent rather than suffer public embarrassment.

But after the manager of the Romantik Seehotel Jaegerwirt, a luxurious four-star hotel with a beautiful lakeside setting on the Alpine Turracher Hoehe Pass in Austria, was hit a fourth time by the blackmailers he decided to go public with what happened to warn others of the dangers of cybercrime.

Managing Director Christoph Brandstaetter said he was speaking out because he wanted to see more done to tackle cybercriminals, as this sort of activity is set to get worse.

His hotel, like many others, has a modern IT system which includes key cards for hotel doors and in the latest incident cybercriminals had again hacked into his system and managed to take down the entire key system. The guests could no longer get into their hotel rooms and new key cards could not be programmed.

The attack, which coincided with the opening weekend of the winter season, was allegedly so massive that it even shut down all hotel computers, including the reservation system and the cash desk system.

The hackers promised to restore the system quickly if just 1,500 EUR (1,272 GBP) in the largely untraceable electronic currency known as Bitcoin was paid to them.

Brandstaetter said: “The house was totally booked with 180 guests, we had no other choice. Neither police nor insurance help you in this case.”

“The restoration of our system after the first attack in summer cost us several thousand Euros. We did not get any money from the insurance so far because none of those to blame could be found.”

The manager said it was cheaper and faster for the hotel to just pay the Bitcoin.

Brandstaetter said: “Every euro that is paid to blackmailers hurts us. We know that other colleagues have been attacked, who have done similarly.”

When the hackers got the money, they unlocked the key registry system and all other computers, making them all run as normal again.

The Seehotel Jaegerwirt, which has existed for 111 years, also has another, innovative, trick in store to keep the hackers out for good.

Brandstaetter said: “We are planning at the next room refurbishment for old-fashioned door locks with real keys. Just like 111 years ago at the time of our great-grandfathers.”

Using Bitcoin for cybercriminal activities is becoming increasingly commonplace, as tracing payments is much harder due to the way the cryptocurrency works.

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CRIME

Are there ‘young gangs’ forming in Vienna?

If you read Austrian tabloid media, Vienna has a 'gang' problem, with several crimes committed by groups of young people in recent months. But is that true?

Published: 18 April 2024 13:17 CEST
Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.  

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations. 

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria. 

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

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