An attack, no ticket sales, millions affected: it is a perfectly ordinary Tuesday in February 2026. Commuters are standing on the platform; business travellers reach for their smartphones to quickly book a ticket. Routine, habit, reliability. But suddenly, nothing works anymore.

The app won’t load. The website isn’t responding. Bookings are being cancelled. No information is forthcoming. What initially appears to be a technical glitch quickly turns out to be a targeted cyberattack.

An attack that doesn’t steal any data. Doesn’t take over any systems. And yet it strikes precisely at what modern businesses depend on: their ability to operate digitally. This is where the real story begins – and the most important lesson.

In February 2026, Deutsche Bahn fell victim to a large-scale cyberattack. Unlike many high-profile incidents in recent years, this attack did not involve data theft or system encryption. Instead, the attackers had a different objective: to deliberately overload the infrastructure.

Specifically, it was a so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. In such attacks, systems are flooded with an extremely high number of requests until they can no longer respond. In the case of Deutsche Bahn, this occurred with an intensity that is difficult even for large organisations to cope with. Experts speak of billions of requests per minute, triggered by a global network of compromised devices.

The wave of attacks primarily hit the company’s digital access points. The website, the booking systems and, in particular, the widely used app were affected. For millions of users, this meant: no ticket purchases, no reliable information, no certainty in planning.

What is remarkable here is not so much the technical sophistication of the attack as its strategic focus. The attackers did not target internal systems or sensitive data, but precisely those interfaces that are visible to customers and critical to the business.

Train services themselves continued to run. But access to them was restricted. And that is precisely what made the attack so effective.

Another example from the healthcare sector illustrates just how quickly cyberattacks can have a devastating impact. In early 2026, the BDH Clinic in Greifswald was the target of a cyberattack that significantly disrupted its day-to-day operations. As a result of the attack, some digital systems had to be taken offline, meaning that key processes could only be managed manually at short notice. For an institution where time and availability are directly linked to patient care, this represents an immediate operational burden. Processes that are otherwise digitally supported and automated had to be replicated manually at great expense.

The incident makes it clear that cyberattacks no longer merely cause economic damage, but can also jeopardise the security of care provision in an emergency. In the healthcare sector in particular, it is becoming apparent just how critical the reliance on functioning IT systems has become. At the same time, the case shows that attackers specifically target organisations where outages have a particularly rapid impact.

For companies outside the healthcare sector, this is a clear warning: the more business-critical processes are digitally mapped, the more serious the consequences of an attack – even if no data is stolen.

At first glance, one might argue that these were ‘merely’ disruptions. No data was stolen, and no systems were permanently damaged. But this view does not go far enough. Modern cyberattacks are shifting their focus.

Availability rather than data

In the past, the focus was primarily on data: stolen information, industrial espionage or ransomware attacks in which systems were encrypted. Today, another dimension has been added – and for many companies, it is even more critical. It concerns the deliberate disruption of business processes. It is about the paralysis of digital services. It is about the moment when a company still exists but is no longer able to function.

This development becomes particularly clear when comparing the two examples: whilst at Deutsche Bahn it was primarily customer access that was blocked, the case of the BDH Clinic shows how deeply such attacks can disrupt operational processes. The consequences thus range from a loss of convenience to real risks to people.

The key question is therefore no longer simply whether data is sufficiently protected. What matters far more is whether a company can continue to function whilst under attack.

An analysis of recent incidents shows that cyberattacks have evolved significantly in recent months. This is less about new technologies and more about a shift in strategy.

A key feature is increasing efficiency. Attacks no longer need to be highly complex to have a major impact. On the contrary: it is often relatively simple methods that become particularly effective due to the high level of reliance on digital systems. When central platforms fail, there is immediate, tangible damage – regardless of how technically sophisticated the attack was.

Added to this is the fact that attackers select their targets very deliberately. They do not attack systems at random, but focus on those areas that are critical to business operations. These are often publicly accessible interfaces such as websites, customer portals or apps. Precisely where companies are most vulnerable, because these areas are both highly frequented and must remain open.

Another trend is the increasing dynamism of modern cyberattacks. Whilst attacks were previously often perceived as isolated incidents, recent analyses by security authorities and industry reports paint a more nuanced picture: many attacks today take the form of multi-stage campaigns that extend over a longer period and are continuously adapted.

For example, in its situation reports, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) describes a growing sophistication in attacks, which often unfold in several phases – from initial access, through propagation within the network, to the actual damage caused. International analyses, such as those by the EU agency ENISA, also show that attackers are increasingly adopting an iterative approach and specifically adapting their methods to existing security measures.

This pattern is particularly evident in DDoS attacks, where various security providers regularly report waves of attacks of varying intensity and technique. The aim here is to specifically test and circumvent defence mechanisms. The attack on Deutsche Bahn follows precisely this pattern: the systems were not subjected to a single attack, but were repeatedly targeted with varying intensities.

For businesses, this means a changed landscape. In many cases, cyberattacks are no longer isolated incidents, but dynamic processes that develop over time. Accordingly, it is not enough to react to a single attack – what is crucial is the ability to remain stable and capable of acting even over extended periods.

Last but not least, the attackers’ motives are also changing. Alongside financial interests, strategic and political objectives are increasingly coming to the fore. Attacks are no longer merely a means of extortion, but are intended to create uncertainty, undermine trust or simply demonstrate the attackers’ own strength.

Perhaps the most important lesson that companies need to learn from recent incidents lies not in technology, but in structure. Many organisations have invested heavily in digitalisation in recent years. Processes have been optimised, systems centralised and services consolidated. This has created efficiency – but also new dependencies.

If a central platform fails today, it often affects the entire company. Customers can no longer place orders, employees can no longer work, and processes come to a standstill. This creates a so-called ‘single point of failure’ – a critical point whose failure has a disproportionately large impact.

Both the attack on Deutsche Bahn and the incident at the BDH Clinic show how varied these dependencies can be – and how similar the consequences are: limited ability to act.

Clear lessons can be drawn from the recent attacks, which go far beyond technical measures.

1. One of the most important insights is that availability is not purely an IT issue. When systems fail, it has a direct impact on the business. Revenue plummets, customers are frustrated, and trust suffers. Cybersecurity is therefore a strategic task that must be embedded at management level.
2. Equally crucial is the shift in perspective from protection to resilience. It is no longer enough to simply aim to prevent attacks. Companies must assume that attacks will happen – and prepare to continue operating under these conditions. Resilience means remaining capable of acting even in a state of emergency.
3. Another key point is scenario-based thinking. What happens if the website goes completely down? How does the company respond if critical systems are unavailable? Who makes the decisions, and how is information communicated? Many security strategies are based on probabilities and abstract risks. In practice, it is more helpful to run through specific scenarios.
4. Communication also plays a greater role than is often assumed. A cyberattack is not just a technical event, but also a communicative one. Customers, partners and employees expect prompt and transparent information. Uncertainty and silence can lead to a loss of trust and significantly exacerbate the damage.
5. Furthermore, external dependencies must not be underestimated. Many companies today are closely linked to cloud services, platforms and third-party providers. If any of these components fails, it has an immediate impact on their own operations. It is therefore crucial to be aware of these dependencies and to plan for alternatives.
6. Last but not least, a look at recent attacks shows that DDoS protection is no longer an optional matter. The barrier to entry for such attacks is low, yet their impact is enormous. Companies should therefore invest specifically in mechanisms that can detect and repel DDoS attacks.
7. And finally, in an emergency, one thing matters above all else: responsiveness. How quickly is an attack detected? How coordinated is the response? Are there clear lines of responsibility? Companies that are well prepared in this regard can limit damage and maintain trust – even under difficult conditions.

The attack on Deutsche Bahn was not an isolated incident. Nor is the incident at the BDH Clinic a one-off event. Together, they demonstrate just how varied cyberattacks can be – and how similar their consequences are. That is precisely what makes them so instructive. For they illustrate that sophisticated methods are not always needed to cause significant damage. Often, it is enough to hit the right vulnerability at the right time.

For businesses, this means one clear lesson: cybersecurity is more than just protection against intruders. It is the ability to function under pressure. Anyone who cannot answer today how their own company would react to a massive system failure should start right there.

Because the next attack is coming. And it won’t wait until the time is right.

Sources

Last updated: 27 March 2026

1. Stadt Halle (Saale) | dubisthalle.de/cyberangriff-auf-halles-sirenen-stadtrat-draengt-auf-aufklaerung-und-it-sicherheit/
2. Deutsche Bahn | www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/bahn-cyberangriff-bsi-100.html
3. BDH-Klinik Greifswald | www.bdh-klinik-greifswald.de/bdh-klinik-greifswald/aktuelles/meldungen/BDH-Klinik-Cyberangriff.php
4. Hegelmann Express GmbH | www.hegelmann.com/de/data-breach-information/
5. Renafan | www.renafan.de/news/allgemein/information-zu-einem-it-sicherheitsvorfall
6. Cabka Group GmbH | investors.cabka.com/news-releases/news-release-details/cabka-activates-incident-response-following-cybersecurity-event
7. ASB LV-Saarland e. V. | www.asb-saarland.de/news/cyberangriff-auf-den-asb-saarland
8. Suchthilfe Essen gGmbH | suchthilfe-direkt.de/wp-content/uploads/cyberangriff-info-1.pdf