Berlin says it will not pay hackers who stole data from city systems and demanded a ransom. The attack disrupted some online services, including housing-benefit applications and payments, and raises concerns that personal and other non-public information may have been exposed.

The ransom is reportedly 30 bitcoin, valued at about €2m (£1.7m), while the Rhysida group claims to have taken 5.79 terabytes of data and threatens to auction it after seven days. Officials say leaks occurred between 7 and 12 August, with further compromises found in transport and environment networks; election infrastructure was not affected despite elections being due in roughly a month.