Men’s clothing retailer Hirmer has been the target of a cyber attack, the company officially confirmed on Monday. “Hirmer Handel with its brands Hirmer, Hirmer Large Sizes and Eckerle fell victim to a criminal cyber attack on November 3, 2021, despite the highest security standards,” a company spokesperson said. As a result, there are currently issues with email and phone accessibility as well as minor delays in shipping online orders.
“Operations at parent company Hirmer and subsidiaries Eckerle and Hirmer Large Sizes continue without restrictions,” the spokesman said. Orders in online stores are also possible without any problems. “We are working non-stop to fix the IT issues,” the company says.
IT forensics experts provide first aid in the company
The fact that you are so tight-lipped has to do with “tactical probing questions”. Hirmer hasn’t outsourced much of its IT to a service provider, but handles tasks in-house. But now IT forensic scientists are on the job, experts that Hirmer’s cyber insurance company is sending and providing first aid to the company to correct the limitations.
Only a few areas of the company were affected by the attack. The company did not want to say whether this includes company accounts or customer data, which may be encrypted. It is also unclear whether ransomware was used in the attack that encrypts or steals files. Criminals use such trojans to extort a reward for publishing data.
Specialists of the State Criminal Police provide clues and track down the perpetrators
Harald Pickert, head of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (BLKA) since 2020, describes the fight against cybercrime as the biggest challenge facing his authority. BLKA takes this into account to the extent that it created its own department for this a few years ago and hired a large number of IT experts. In the summer, the so-called “Rapid Response Teams” were added, rapid response teams that can intervene in certain cases after consultation with the local police station.
The task of cybercriminals is, on the one hand, to help affected companies get back to work as quickly as possible. For example, they check to what extent backup systems are affected. On the other hand, they provide traces and follow the perpetrators, which is the most complex part of the work. What police specialists cannot do, of course, is decipher encrypted data and programs.