DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - The arms and technology group Rheinmetall was again the target of a cyber attack on Friday. A spokesman for the Central and Contact Point Cybercrime (ZAC NRW) at the Cologne public prosecutor's office confirmed corresponding knowledge of an incident in the early evening. "We have started investigations," prosecutor Christoph Hebbecker told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The spokesman could not give any information on the severity of the attack.

Earlier, several media outlets had reported on the attack on Rheinmetall and some of its subsidiaries. The company had already been the target of a cyberattack at the beginning of March, but had survived it largely unscathed, according to its own statements. Only the Group website, which is operated by an external service provider, was temporarily unavailable.

Rheinmetall is Germany's largest armaments group and was promoted to the DAX in March. In military vehicles and in the ammunition business, the company ranks among the three largest manufacturers in the Western world, according to its own figures. Rheinmetall currently has a stock market value of over 10 billion euros./lic/DP/ngu