German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other senior politicians were reportedly hit by a data hack, with some of their letters, contact details and party memos leaked on Twitter.
WEB DESK
Hundreds of politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, have fallen victim to a massive online leak of private data in Germany.
A government spokesperson on Friday said personal data and documents belonging to several politicians and public figures have been published on the internet.
She added that a preliminary investigation indicated that no sensitive information or data from Merkel’s office has been leaked.
The stolen data, which comprises personal addresses, mobile phone numbers, letters, invoices and copies of identity documents, was published online via Twitter in December last year. However, the leak only came to light this week.
The Federal Office for Information Security and the domestic intelligence service said they were investigating the leak.
Hackerangriff auf Politiker: Das BSI prüft den Fall derzeit in enger Abstimmung mit weiteren Bundesbehörden intensiv. Das Nationale Cyber-Abwehrzentrum hat die zentrale Koordination übernommen. Nach jetzigem Erkenntnisstand liegt keine Betroffenheit der Regierungsnetze vor.
— BSI (@BSI_Bund) January 4, 2019
The hack targeted all of Germany’s political parties currently represented in the federal parliament, except for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Politicians at the state level were also affected.
A preliminary review of the documents discovered no sensitive information. However, the data published on Twitter included mobile phone numbers, contact info, and credit card details from members of Germany’s major parties. The leak also included banking and financial details, ID cards and private chats.
Justice Minister Katarina Barley described the incident as a “serious attack.”
“The perpetrators wanted to damage our trust in democracy and our institutions,” she told reporters.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said an initial analysis suggests that the material was obtained from cloud services, email accounts or social networks.
Chancellery data leaked
Among the apparent targets were Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“With regard to the Chancellery it seems that judging by the initial review, no sensitive information and data have been published and this includes (from) the chancellor,” a government spokeswoman told reporters.
The hackers published Merkel’s fax number, email address and several letters written by and addressed to her, according to the DPA news agency.