The construction management system records a partial outage, likely due to hackers

servers

Prague – The information system for building management, which is used by building authorities and relevant bodies to process requests, is experiencing a partial service outage. The likely cause is a massive DDoS hacking attack, the Ministry for Regional Development (MMR) reported on its website. The outage concerns the so-called technological bypass, connecting last year's launched systems with local systems used before the digitization of building management. Lukáš Trnka, spokesperson for the National Agency for Communication and Information Technologies (NAKIT), which is involved in resolving the issues, told ČTK that the DDoS attack was unsuccessful.

MMR is currently investigating the causes of the problems and working on restoring the system. However, it is not yet possible to estimate how long the outage will last.

"We are determining whether the service outage is a result of the hacking attack (DDoS) that occurred on Tuesday, March 18. When connecting local systems of building authorities to the API (application programming interface) of the digital building management system, it is necessary to ensure that the systems on both sides operate reliably," MMR stated. In a DDoS attack, computers controlled by hackers overwhelm the targeted server with a large number of requests, thereby taking it out of operation.

Trnka stated that NAKIT, together with other relevant organizations, is helping to find the cause of the complications with the deployment of the technological bypass of the Information System for Building Management. "The mentioned DDoS attack was not successful. We are investigating whether the security measures taken across the wide perimeter of the critical infrastructure of the Czech Republic may have caused limitations in functionality, performance, and availability of related systems," added Trnka.

The implementation of bypasses began in mid-January. Minister for Regional Development Petr Kulhánek (for STAN) had previously stated that all 652 building authorities should have the option to connect to the bypass by the end of March. However, due to the outage, for example, today’s deployment of the new interface at some offices will be postponed according to MMR.

The technological bypass connects older local systems of building authorities with new digital ones that were launched at the beginning of July last year. However, there have been problems with the newly launched systems from the start, and both office staff and builders and designers have complained about them.

Due to problems with the digitization of building management, Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) dismissed then Minister for Regional Development and Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization Ivan Bartoš (Pirates) last September, which ultimately resulted in the Pirates moving to opposition. The government subsequently decided not to continue developing the system and announced a new contract for it.

A complete and tested new system for the digitization of building management should be ready by 2028. Until then, a transitional period will apply during which building authorities will be able to use the technological bypass.