Update, Bonn, 6 August, 2026
In July 2026, an attacker gained access to a network component of IDOS and attempted to access internal systems.
Immediately after the incident was discovered, IDOS launched a comprehensive investigation in collaboration with external IT security specialists. This investigation is well underway but has not yet been fully completed.
The affected network component, which was identified as the point of entry, has since been completely replaced. In addition, we are currently reviewing the security measures for our entire IT infrastructure.
Data Security
All attempts to access internal systems that have been attributed to the attack have failed so far. No evidence of compromise was found on the systems examined to date. No data was encrypted by randsomware. To date, no access to stored data has been detected either. Based on current information, there is also no evidence of a data breach.
As things stand, there is no need for external partners to take any action. There is no indication that data from a collaboration with IDOS has been affected.
As a precaution, however, we have brought the matter to the attention of our Data Protection Officer and reported it to the relevant data protection supervisory authority. To date, no unauthorized access to personal data has been detected. Should this situation change, which we do not currently anticipate, we will provide another update.
Getting in contact with IDOS
At this time, our email and document systems remain disconnected from the network as a precautionary measure. As a result, emails sent to us since 27 July 2026 are not reaching us. They are not temporarily stored and will be returned to the sender after some time with a notification that the recipient is unreachable. We kindly ask that you resend these emails once our email service is restored. As of now, we expect email service to resume by approximately Friday, 14 August. We will provide a separate update on the exact time via our website and on our social media platforms LinkedIn and Bluesky. You can still reach us by landline.
Prof. Dr. Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Dr. Axel Berger, Margret Heyen