Earlier this week, Radio Nordseewelle was hit by a major cyberattack that took large parts of the station offline. Broadcasting equipment and important IT systems were affected so badly that regular operations simply stopped. Some of the damaged components couldn’t be repaired at all and had to be replaced.
Even so, the team managed to get the station back on air. Staff worked long hours with help from regional partners who stepped in quickly. “The last few days have been extremely tough for everyone here,” said Program Manager Aylin Bahrmann. “We basically had to rebuild our technical setup from scratch, and do it while everything was down. It took a lot of teamwork and determination.”
Investigators say the attack was deliberate and professionally executed. It didn’t just involve software tampering, central hardware parts were destroyed as well. During the recovery, the team also realized that some older systems just weren’t built to handle something like this. “Moments like this show you who you can truly rely on,” Bahrmann said.
The station worked with both long-time and new service partners to rebuild the infrastructure quickly. Instead of just restoring what was lost, they used the situation to modernize everything. The new system is designed to be more stable and better protected against future attacks.
“We’re taking this situation very seriously,” said Managing Director Maik Neudorf. “We’re investing in stronger security, modern systems, and reliable partnerships. This was a turning point for us, and we want to use it to come out stronger.” In the next few weeks, Radio Nordseewelle plans to roll out further improvements, including better backups, training for staff, and closer monitoring of its systems.
