Weekly Backlog Week 44/2025

Editorial

Germany, your servers. In the same week that a small community in Baden-Württemberg digitally collapses and the federal login system goes offline, Europe debates “digital sovereignty”—while Microsoft simultaneously learns who is actually in the office and who is just pretending to be.

One might say: Welcome to the paradoxical republic. Between security gaps and surveillance features, between fax machines and cloud monopolies. This week shows once again: Digitalization is not an IT project. It’s a question of power.

The Tech News of the Week

Cyberattack in Untereisesheim – Another Warning Signal for the Public Sector

A cyberattack has paralyzed the municipal administration of Untereisesheim. A computer virus encrypted the server—only the telephone system remained online. The incident is symptomatic: Public IT structures are too vulnerable, inadequately protected, and outdated in their thinking.

After last week’s attack on the federal procurement portal, it is clear: Authorities are no longer “uninteresting” to hackers. Quite the opposite. They manage the most sensitive data, but often with the poorest infrastructure.

Data are not digital file folders but power factors. Those who lose them lose control. And this should finally have political consequences.

🔗 https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/heilbronn/cyber-angriff-legt-gemeindeverwaltung-untereisesheim-lahm-100.html

Technical Disruption Shuts Down Digital Administrative Access

On October 23, the central user accounts of BundID went down—precisely the system that is supposed to be the single sign-on for the state. For hours, no logins, no applications, no online administrative procedures.

According to heise online, there were no planned maintenance works, and the Informationstechnikzentrum Bund (ITZBund) was searching for the cause. The AusweisApp was also affected—a total failure in the digital heart of administration.

The fact that the disruption did not make headlines is almost more telling: We seem to have become accustomed to system failures, even in digital identity.

🔗 https://www.heise.de/news/BundID-Login-fuer-mehrere-Stunden-lahmgelegt-10818030.html

First the Cloud Mandate, Then the Security Gap

Atlassian has decided: Data Center is history, Cloud is mandatory. From 2026, there will be no more local licenses. Everything runs via AWS and Google Cloud.

And now? Critical security vulnerabilities in Jira (CVE-2025-22167) and Confluence (CVE-2025-22166). Path Traversal, DoS—the full program. The problem is not just the bug, but the principle: Whoever centralizes everything becomes dependent.

If Atlassian patches tomorrow, good. If not? Tough luck! Control no longer lies with the users but with the provider and its cloud provider. Europe talks about sovereignty but uses tools that make this sovereignty impossible.

🔗 https://www.heise.de/news/Bewoelkte-Aussichten-Nur-noch-Cloud-Lizenzen-bei-Atlassian-10641035.html 🔗 https://www.heise.de/news/Atlassian-Jira-Data-Center-Angreifer-koennen-Daten-abgreifen-10851118.html

Big Tech is Watching You

Microsoft Teams will, from December, recognize whether employees are actually in the office. Via WLAN. “Convenience feature,” they call it in Redmond. “Infrastructure for mistrust,” I call it.

It is another step towards surveillance as a normal state. When even the WLAN becomes a detective, trust is no longer a corporate value but a risk.

Trust is not a weakness but the foundation of every organization. Yet Big Tech and management consultants apparently see it as a problem that needs to be solved with surveillance.

🔗 https://www.heise.de/news/Microsoft-Teams-kann-ab-Dezember-Bueroanwesenheit-erfassen-10899898.html

US Embassy Intervenes Against Digital Sovereignty

Shortly before the “European Summit for Digital Sovereignty” in Berlin, the US Embassy complains to the federal government. According to POLITICO Europe, they want “explanations” as to why the topic is even on the agenda. This is not diplomacy; this is power politics.

Washington does not like it when Europe talks about alternatives to American cloud and platform dominance. Because that threatens the business model of dependency. That Microsoft and Google simultaneously appear as sponsors of the summit is an irony. “Sovereign Cloud” from the USA—that is #SovereignWashing in its purest form.

Those who talk about self-determination must endure such contradictions and finally act politically.

🔗 https://digitalrechte.de/news/us-botschaft-interveniert-vor-digitalgipfel-zu-digitale-souveraenitaet

Podcast, Film & TV

The Heute Show - When Trump Shuts Down the Cloud

The Heute Show from October 17 shows how close satire is to reality. Trump as a peace bringer, Germany with a fax machine in crisis mode—and a country that talks about “digital sovereignty” but would be powerless in the event of a US cloud outage.

A successful episode that once again shows us how fragile our digitalization narrative is.

🔗 https://www.zdf.de/video/shows/heute-show-104/heute-show-vom-17-oktober-2025-100

Podcast: Peter Thiel – The Tech Ideologue

Peter Thiel, the PayPal billionaire, Palantir founder, and intellectual puppeteer of Silicon Valley. In this podcast episode, Fritz Espenlaub explores how Thiel turned a libertarian student project into a global power instrument—including networks, ideology, and Silicon Valley elites driving the cultural rightward shift.

A deep, journalistically strong portrait of the man who understands tech as a tool for political transformation.

🔗 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1V7dNQQvPZhYdQi6WKINop

Blogpost Tip

Of AI Browsers, Cybersecurity, and Compliance

by David Hussain

AI browsers like ChatGPT Atlas or Perplexity Comet are changing how we interact with the web—but they also bring a security risk that many underestimate. David Hussain impressively shows why Prompt Injection is the unresolved core problem of these systems: AI does not understand what is code and what is content—and can thus be hacked.

The article also analyzes the data protection issues, excessive permissions, and Compliance risks in corporate environments.

His recommendation: clear guidelines, sandboxing, training—before AI browsers become a new attack vector.

🔗 </posts/von-ki-browsern-cybersecurity-und-compliance/>

Event Tip

EU Summit – Summit on European Digital Sovereignty

On November 18, 2025, the “Summit on European Digital Sovereignty” will take place in Berlin. Organized by the federal government and the French state government.

Focus: Cloud, AI, startups, and the question of how Europe can regain digital independence.

The event is exclusive, but the livestream is public. A must for anyone who wants to participate in IT strategy and politics.

🔗 https://bmds.bund.de/aktuelles/eu-summit

In-Post of the Week

One Billion for the Cloud—or for Bavaria’s Digital Sovereignty?

by Axel Gillert

Bavaria is planning a billion-dollar project for its administration—based on the Microsoft Cloud. What is sold as modernization is in truth an industrial policy course: money for foreign licenses instead of domestic competence.

Holger Dyroff (OSBA, Open Source Business Alliance) and representatives of the Bavarian IT industry demand transparency and alternatives in an open letter. Why? Because one billion euros in foreign infrastructures does not create sovereignty.

This is not about ideology but about responsibility. Digital sovereignty is not a buzzword. It is the litmus test of political seriousness.

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7388694897605775360/

Meme of the Week

In Our Own Matter:

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Katrin Peter