CYBERCRIME German Rail Giant Deutsche Bahn Hit by Large-Scale DDoS Attack The cyberattack disrupted information and booking systems and lasted for several hours. By Eduard Kovacs | February 19, 2026 (4:16 AM ET) Flipboard Reddit Whatsapp Email Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national rail operator, has been dealing with a large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack that has disrupted some of its IT systems. Regular status updates from Deutsche Bahn indicated that the attack began on February 17 and continued into February 18. According to the rail giant, the attack came in waves and its scale is substantial. The DDoS attack disrupted Deutsche Bahn’s information and ticketing systems, including its websites and the DB Navigator app. At the time of writing Deutsche Bahn is no longer reporting any disruptions, but the organization’s websites still appear to be intermittently inaccessible. It’s unclear who is behind the attack and what their motivation is. Deutsche Bahn said it would not comment on the matter. However, it’s worth noting that in the past years German transportation and other critical infrastructure organizations have been targeted with DDoS attacks by threat actors claiming to be pro-Russian hacktivists, including the groups named Killnet and NoName057(16). DDoS attacks can serve various purposes. Hackers can use them to draw attention to their cause and, in profit-driven operations, threaten victims with highly disruptive attacks if they don’t pay a ransom. ADVERTISEMENT. SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING. Such attacks can also be used by cybercrime gangs and state-sponsored groups to conceal more sophisticated activities, such as malware deployment or data theft. DDoS attacks have become increasingly powerful, with new records set regularly. The largest attack to date by volume was observed by Cloudflare in late 2025, peaking at 31.4 Tbps. Related: UK Train Operator LNER Warns Customers of Data Breach Related: Aisuru Botnet Powers Record DDoS Attack Peaking at 29 Tbps Related: Train Brakes Can Be Hacked Over Radio—And the Industry Knew for 20 Years Related: ShadowV2 DDoS Service Lets Customers Self-Manage Attacks WRITTEN BY Eduard Kovacs Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is the managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher before starting a career in journalism in 2011. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering. 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