In what appears to be one of the worst data breaches in the history of Germany, many German politicians, Journalist, and celebrities were targeted by a cyber attack early this week- which the German intelligence claims to be the act of its adversaries.
The leaked data includes mobile numbers, email addresses, physical address and bills and credit card details of many noted politicians, including that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
A couple of hours ago, an official statement on the data dump was issued by German Justice Minister Katarina Barley and she says that the act was conducted to damage confidence of the democracy and its institutions.
Twitter users say that the data dump started from Dec 1st last year. But the sensitive details like credit card details are being leaked from Monday this week.
The victims include TV satirist- Christian Ehring & Jan Bohmermann, rapper Marteria, and Green Leader Robert Habeck, and many other parliamentarian groups.
Russia intelligence is suspected to be behind the attack. But German cybersecurity analyst Sven Herbig says that the right-wing groups of Germany can also fall into the suspicion bracket as the whole incident looks to be of an insiders act.
Note 1- In the year, a hacking group claimed to have stolen data from the computer database in Bundestag. And last year the government’s IT network came under attack. The Military Intelligence of Germany has accused Kremlin of launching both attacks and said that it has evidence to prove its allegations against Vladimir Putin led nation.
Note 2- Robert Habeck, the leader of the Green Party is reported to be badly affected by the data breach as many of his personal digital communication with his family were leaked online. Germany’s President Frank Walter Steinmeier was also digitally marred by the hackers in this week’s cyber incident.
