Kapellmann says thank you: IT systems almost fully restored

Kapellmann became a victim of a ransomware attack on February 03, 2023. As a result, IT systems were blocked and company data encrypted in all our offices. We immediately took the necessary steps to protect all data as best as possible, working closely with cyber specialists and the police authorities.

In the meantime, the attack has ended. Analysis of the cause and impact is ongoing, also with the help of external experts. Just a few months earlier, an external audit initiated by our insurance company had shown that we had complied with all security standards and in some cases exceeded them.

The first priority was to create a new and secure working environment. To this end, all servers and clients were completely rebuilt and a two-tier firewall system was installed. Our incoming and outgoing e-mail traffic is scanned for threats even more intensively than before, and endpoint protection has been increased once again. We have no evidence that the targeted attack of February 3, 2023, directed at our servers, created an increased risk of malware being passed on via files or e-mails originating from our network. This does not affect our general recommendation to recipients of data to check it with the usual due diligence measures before accepting it.

Our IT systems have now been largely restored. However, individual disruptions in internal and external communications and in the processing of mandates still cannot be avoided.

We would like to thank our clients most sincerely for the patience they have shown us, the offers of help (also from other law firms) and the understanding for our situation that has been expressed throughout! We would also like to thank all our employees who have tried to maintain a halfway normal workflow in the last few weeks with provisional solutions and "workarounds". The biggest thanks, however, go to our entire IT team around Martin Twesmann, who were on duty almost around the clock during this time and never lost their nerve.