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Hundreds of German Lawmakers Targeted in Mass Cyber Attack (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the privacy-woes dept.

A stolen cache of personal information belonging to nearly 1,000 German politicians -- including outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel -- has been leaked, according to a report published Thursday. From a report: The information includes everything from phone numbers and credit card details to private messages with family members, German media said. The hack has impacted national, regional and EU politicians from all major parties except for members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (Alternative fur Deutschland, or AfD) party. Journalists, musicians, comedians and activists were also targeted. There is currently no indication of who was behind the attack, but the hacker or hackers leaked information for more than a month on Twitter before the media picked it up.

The scale of the hack was first reported by RBB, leading Justice Minister Katarina Barley to call it a "serious attack" Friday morning. "The people behind this want to damage confidence in our democracy and institutions," Barley said. The federal office for information security (BSI) said Friday it was investigating, adding that government networks had not been affected.

88 comments

  1. Except the far-right ADF you say? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Seems like a rather big clue that they went after everyone exact the far-right AFD. If it wasn't an AFD member/supporter it must be someone supporting the far right.

    That alone means it's probably going to backfire. Any revelations that emerge from this will probably be overshadowed by the investigation, which is bound to pull in prominent AFD members and politicians.

    Can anyone comment on the timing too? Seems a bit random, is there something happening I'm not aware of?

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    1. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by locopuyo · · Score: 1

      That might just be Vice's added spin on it. Does that party even have a significant amount of politicians?

      --
      The Official Site of 1337 Pwnage
    2. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or maybe someone wants to give the ADF a black eye.

    3. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by WegianWarrior · · Score: 0

      You'll have to look at both capability and intent when assessing who may be behind something like this...
      - German AfD sympathizers or right wing extremists might have the intent, but it's doubtful that they have the capability for a mass hack / large spearphishing operations.
      - Western intel organisations have the capability, but probably not the intent to stir up shit in western countries.
      - Russian intel services have both the capability and the intent, as well as an established history of hacking, shit-stirring, and supporting parties on the far right and far left in other countries.
      So I'm not saying it's the Russians... but it's most likely the Russians, trying to sow disorder in Germany and the EU. There are multiple reasons as to why, but a lot hails back to trying to engineer more russia-friendly policies from European countries as well as trying to regain the status as a superpower.

      --
      Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
    4. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except the ADF headquarters in Saxony were bombed that same day.

      A tad more serious than hacking someone's PC, don't you think ?

      Shit, don't you Americans know anything at all ??

    5. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 0

      Happened on 1/4, reference to the white supremacists' "14 words?"

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    6. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by alvinrod · · Score: 3, Interesting

      According to Wikipedia, they're the third largest party and hold approximately 1/7 of the seats in the federal parliament.

      It seems unlikely that they would be missed by chance. Now the question becomes a matter of why they were likely excluded. It certainly could be that the hackers are sympathetic with that party, or it could be that whoever did the hacking wants to stir up even more shit be leaving an obvious group out of the leaks. If it were an outside antagonist like Russians (they're always at least a suspect) they'd probably want to create the largest amount of chaos. Weakening your opponent is good, but stirring the various factions up against each other and letting your opponents tear themselves apart from in-fighting is far more effective.

    7. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're running third in the polls and are the largest opposition party in Germany.

      What ? Can't spend 60 seconds educating yourself ?

      Go watch some Kardashians....

    8. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They aren't 14 words in german, dipshit.

    9. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One word. Ruskies.

      Who else has suddenly started inserting itself into Western politics through hacking? Russia.

    10. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by fazig · · Score: 1

      Of course this is totally a competition. And that explosion was totally a retaliatory act.

      Disclaimer: I'm being sarcastic.

    11. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems like a rather big clue that they went after everyone exact the far-right AFD. If it wasn't an AFD member/supporter it must be someone supporting the far right.

      That alone means it's probably going to backfire

      Unless it's done by a state agency like China, Russia, or NK to incite the German public.

    12. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      Except the ADF headquarters in Saxony were bombed that same day.

      What "same day"? The hacks and releases have been going on for over a month according to the summary.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    13. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      14 is code and stands for A and D in the alphabet. Like in ADolf.
      It could also stand for AfD with the / representing the f (ignoring that Germany does not use that notation for dates which would make it "04.01").
      Of course if you add 9 which is the 1st letter in after H(itler) to 14 you get 23.
      And if you multiply 14 with 3 you arrive at 42!
      Coincidences? I think not!

    14. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      aka the Captain America: Civil War strategy

    15. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      Seems like a rather big clue that they went after everyone exact the far-right AFD. If it wasn't an AFD member/supporter it must be someone supporting the far right.

      Trust no one.

      Something "so obvious" may be just what you are supposed to think.

    16. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 0

      That would be the first of April in Germany. A fitting day, sure, but we aren't quite there yet.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    17. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Someone needs to remind the hackers that there are some people you "just don't want to fuck with". You can't be a martyr if no-one knows if you're dead.

    18. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You can just as easily say that this way too obvious and that this is a rather big cue that someone is framing the AFD.
      Or that the AFD knows this too, and they are counting on everyone knowing this. Infinite conspiracy turtles all the way down...

      But the German news mentions outlook and the parliament without getting into specifics, and the AFD is not in parliament that long, and this looks like a project that would have taken some time to accomplish.

    19. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't you think anyone intelligent enough to pull this off would cover their tracks?
      Thought I'd see some more critical thinking on this one at /.

    20. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Putin is playing a game(and winning) of global strategic chess.
      He has manipulated a ripe environment, ready for the dissolution of the "The West", to allow him and the motherland to return to their former glory.

      Read about the loans to Le Pen from a Russian bank.
      The bank folded, and now the Russian Military Intelligence service is asking for their money...

    21. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Germany, it's 4/1/2019

    22. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was most likely the CIA.

    23. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by twms2h · · Score: 3

      The AFD is a rather recent phenomenon. It's possible that their data isn't included beause the actual leak is so old that there simply wasn't anything available about them from that source.

    24. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by twms2h · · Score: 1

      The AFD is a rather recent phenomenon. It's possible that their data isn't included beause the actual leak is so old that there simply wasn't anything available about them from that source.

      (Yes, I know I already posted that, but it was in replay to a different comment.)

    25. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a load of BS, and you know it. You're defending them from attribution.

    26. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can just as easily say that this way too obvious and that this is a rather big cue that someone is framing the AFD. etc. blablabla

      Here is some general advice to you that could help you greatly in your life: Try to form your opinions on the basis of the available evidence, not on speculation and imagination, even if the latter feel more pleasant and cater to your current world view. Even if you happen to be right with your "intuitive" assessments, it's like solving a math problem by guessing. Nothing good comes out of that in the long run.

    27. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At the end, he's just making people drop their masks. The animosity was always there.

    28. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The AfD has been targeted a lot by left wing hackers and had their fair share of leaks and hacks in the past. Makes sense that they are more up to date on security than the rest.

      Also, the federal office for information security (BSI) stated it wasn't a hack of government networks and that the data is largely from public sources on the web. Whatever the AfD posted publicly has been combed through by journalists so often and so thoroughly there's nothing left. So yea, it's just the usual agenda-pushing trying to somehow blame the AfD.

    29. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Mashiki · · Score: 0

      It must be? So, when team Obama was illegally wiretapping EU leaders it was because it must have been the far right? Or was that republicans? Try thinking critically for once in your life, or download the data and look for yourself. Well you are in the UK, so that's probably illegal anyway for you. There's a lot of people who'd want dirt on the government exposed, everyone from GTFO out of the EU to AFD to people in the UK pissed over Germany's attempts to run the EU like the next reich.

      Can anyone comment on the timing too? Seems a bit random, is there something happening I'm not aware of?

      You mean besides the only source for the "only AfD wasn't targeted" came from the German media? That's the only source so far, and we're seeing citogenisis in action with all the other media outlets reporting the same thing. As it stands, no proof, no information. Except that cybersecurity in Germany and in many other countries appear to be shit. But keep in mind, that the german media has also recently taken a beating for multiple reporters, editors, EiC's, having fabricated stories or manufactured news. So I wouldn't exactly trust that source.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    30. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Accusing another political party of this is a pretty strong accusation. I think we need more information before jumping to such conclusions. What was breached exactly? Was this a government database? Was it some internal files to a specific party? Was it something else entirely? And even if it was politically motivated that doesn't necessarily mean it was done by a specific party. Its certainly possible, but the last thing we need right now in this era increased polarization is accusing others of treason. Lets let the facts come to light first. There are plenty of groups who would benefit from this.

    31. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From what I've read the data had been posted over the course of a month but the account was set to private until today (or yesterday).

    32. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Teun · · Score: 1

      Make that 'outside of the USofA'.

      --
      "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
    33. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      My money goes on a conspiracy theorist who believes the old far right favourite about everyone else being a far left / Jewish conspiracy. Politicians, the "mainstream media", basically anyone who isn't with them.

      The think that if they can just expose it people will wake up and realise they are being lied to, and the revolution will begin. Hence leaks are their favourite tool.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    34. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      According to the federal office for information security the "hack" was mainly a collection of data from public web sites, social media and so on.

      Journalists have a raging hate-boner for the AfD that's been lasting for years. In 2018 in particular they've been going over every little post by someone remotely related to the AfD with a fine-tooth comb. Their shit has been dissected so often there's nothing new to "leak".

    35. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fun fact of increased polarization is that it renders the crime of treason unprovable. If you are on either side, and people on your side are accused of treason, you can't believe any claim of treason because your source of trust is your side, not nonpartisan government officials. Or, in other words, polarization itself is an act of mass treason.

    36. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by fatwilbur · · Score: 0

      My advice: don't listen when the media adds the "far right" qualifier when talking about any group. It may or may not be true, but is highly subjective and I've seen it regularly used for groups whose views are most certainly not far right. It is a term used consistently to try and discredit someone's opinion before it is ever debated. The most common way (and applied to AfD as well) is that anyone opposed to any type of immigration is labelled as far-right.

    37. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by gtall · · Score: 1

      Not really chess, Putin is an opportunist with a flamethrower. He's capable of causing some conflict, but he's not competent enough to run a country as their economy and social deterioration shows. He's more or less just a thug. The sooner the West treats him like that, the better off will be the West.

    38. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      So, when team Obama was illegally wiretapping EU leaders it was because it must have been the far right?

      Come on buddy, you can do better than a complete non-sequitur into an Obama attack.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    39. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Happened on 1/4, reference to the white supremacists' "14 words?"

      In German that date would be 4/1, so let's see an adjusted conspiracy theory. The solution to the ultimate question minus 1, perhaps?

    40. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It must be? So, when team Obama was illegally wiretapping EU leaders it was because it must have been the far right.

      Team Obama? I think you mean the CIA. You know, the right-wing authoritarian faux patriots who literally sold drugs on American streets to fund their operations.

      It is like you know nothing Mashiki.

    41. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would not be correct. Outside of the USA there's multiple formats in use.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    42. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by mvdwege · · Score: 0

      We can what-if and yeah-but all day long, but Occam's Razor suggests very strongly that it is a neo-Nazi hack (and yes, I refuse to use euphemisms like alt-right for fuckers like AfD).

      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
    43. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      nonpartisan government officials

      What is that? Could it be like that elusive "unbiased press" or "rainbow unicorn"?

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    44. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He can do what every single empire has done: Take over other countries resources and kepp the important people comfy enough to keep him in power.

    45. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by stiebing.ja · · Score: 1

      There is nothing special happening, just that the leaked data (the leaks started piece wise last year) did not get that much attention until now, when some politicians suddenly got private calls and some more well known Twitter account now got hacked.

      --
      I lag
    46. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by thegarbz · · Score: 0

      Seems like a rather big clue that they went after everyone exact the far-right AFD.

      OMG False flag operation. It wasn't us! It's just like in America we're being victimised. They probably hacked themselves.
      https://www.washingtonexaminer...

    47. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems a bit random, is there something happening I'm not aware of?

      Not exactly a new thing.
      Russia have been pumping money and think-tank support into at least one nationalistic far-right party in every European country for at least a decade.

      The goal isn't exactly secret either. Those groups are against any international cooperation.
      Anti EU, anti NATO, closed borders and everyone for themselves.
      The parties want every country to become an etnostate that doesn't care what happens in other countries.

      If every country acts independently then there will always be a couple of them that Putin can deal with after being sanctioned and instead of any collective action against him everyone will just fortify their own countries without wanting to risk any losses by helping someone else.

      The nationalistic parties doesn't think this is a big problem since they firmly believe in their own country's strength and superior genes and that they surely will be able to defend themselves without any significant losses since they are strong and everyone else is weak.

    48. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep. "Far right" might not be accurate to describe AfD.
      I think the Neo-Nazi label fits them better.

    49. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're forgetting we're well beyond the phase of false flag operations. Don't make confident extrapolations unless you have good reason to believe you understand the entire situation.

    50. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Come on buddy, you can do better than a complete non-sequitur into an Obama attack.

      Facts are an attack on Obama? But hey, what's that? Oh it was the media playing that exact angle as to the reason Obama did it.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    51. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Team Obama? I think you mean the CIA.

      No it was Team Obama.

      It is like you know nothing Mashiki.

      Knowing nothing would be making the assumption with no evidence that it started in 2002. Evidence on the other hand with leaked documents however show that it started in 2010, and Obama agreed to it and approved it. Ah yes...the wonders of knowing nothing, you sure did a bang up job on that one.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    52. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Yes. How dare people want their own sovereignty, and a government to listen to it's people. Instead of a gigantic bureaucracy that churns away, invents rules, and demands people follow them. Especially when all of the existing political parties in power all fall into the same scope of actions and desires. And when things start going against them, the first response is "nazis" because hearing the same bullshit going back to the 1960's really makes them look like they're insane, and not you.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    53. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      My money goes on a conspiracy theorist who believes the old far right favourite about everyone else being a far left / Jewish conspiracy.

      Then why are there so many people on the far left promoting the same conspiracy theory? I mean you've got a political party in the UK that has a massive antisemitism scandal still going on, and you have far-left democrats promoting the same thing. And there are far-left liberals, NDP, and Green party members promoting the same thing in Canada. And I haven't even started on the variety of leftwing politics in Sweden and Norway right now, which are echos of the same thing.

      Politicians, the "mainstream media", basically anyone who isn't with them.

      What's the trust of media these days? 10%? 15%? Pretty low from the 60-70% trust just 30 years ago, maybe the reason people distrust the media is because they're all repeating the same garbage and all using the same sources. In turn, some people in order to make sense of it invent their own theories. This is of course minus of some of the more egregious cases of reporters carrying agendas for particular left-wing groups, parties, and so on.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    54. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Occam's Razor: the simplest solution tends to be the right one. How is a conspiracy that the AfD or it's supports are responsible for this breach the simplest solution? Especially considering it very well could be that data and information about the AfD was just unavailable in the breach? Also remember the fact the other parties have worked collectively in the past and shared information with eachother, but completely excluded the AfD from that process. So the breach of a single organization or company may yield data belonging to only that party and whomever they have been cooperating with.

      When you impart motive and assume information in a situation you are no longer applying Occam's Razor. That is not to say however, that the AfD or a few of its supporters aren't involved. But it is still to much of an assumption to say so.

    55. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by mvdwege · · Score: 1

      Oh fuck off. The AfD has been caught multiple times singing the praises of the Nazis. They're neo-Nazis. And you are an apologist for them. At best.

      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
    56. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      Dude, you are so far right (supporting actual neo nazis) that everything else appears far left to you.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    57. Re:Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because they only recently came to power. The information was collected over many years, yes?

    58. Re: Except the far-right ADF you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or the AfD is better prepared against cyberattacks? We currently don't know of it is an attacker with massive resources and that is willing to invest a lot of effort. It could be a lone guy with a simple exploit (be it social engineering or a software bug) that didn't work against the AfD. Or it worked but he/she could not pivot to useful systems.

  2. If they have nothing to hide they have nothing to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not like Mlle Fuhrur is against mass data collection or anything.

  3. Better Link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    batter link

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news...

  4. OR... alternatively those guys secure their accnts by gDLL · · Score: 2, Insightful

    could it be that of all people the right takes security more seriously than the pie-in-the-sky people ? Just an idea....

  5. Re:Where is your GDPR now????? by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 2

    You're a bit slow on the uptake, but first, the data was collected over a long period, when GDPR was not yet a law and second, GDPR finally clarified that online business has certain responsibilities towards its customers. We can argue if it goes far enough or if it is effective, but it was a step in the right direction.

    Especially given the lack of the online businesses to self-regulate appropriately.

  6. Re:OR... alternatively those guys secure their acc by SirSlud · · Score: 2, Insightful

    that should have felt as dumb to type as it was to read

    --
    "Old man yells at systemd"
  7. What was hacked into? by jfdavis668 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No mention of the system hacked. So how do they know they got data on some parties and not others? What system has all that data on all those people?

    1. Re:What was hacked into? by butzwonker · · Score: 1

      It was the result of meticulous collection from various sources, not of hacking one system.

  8. Re:Where is your GDPR now????? by Calydor · · Score: 1

    Good job with the "Don't kill people!" laws, America. Those sure helped!

    --
    -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  9. Re: If they have nothing to hide they have nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I heard many times that the AFD treats all data, anything at all no matter whether it is just partial field or very sensitive data or larger collections of any type like it is precious and they maintain and guard it very carefully. But hey that is just what I heard. What the hell do i know?

  10. It's pretty obvious who it is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's pretty obvious who did this, and why.

    The far-right's favorite butt-buddy: Vlad Putin, and his anal slaves, the FSB.

    1. Re: It's pretty obvious who it is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup. It's got their stink on it.

  11. Re:OR... alternatively those guys secure their acc by fazig · · Score: 2

    They've been the target of cyber attacks in the past. The prominent ones among the AfD also uses twitter extensively.

    It's very doubtful that their own actions prevented them from having their informations leaked.

  12. Re:OR... alternatively those guys secure their acc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    No, but that's a common right-wing fantasy. Old-man Trump even lied about it himself, claiming the GOP wasn't hacked because they had better security, when really his master had chosen to hold back GOP emails, presumably for blackmail purposes.

  13. Re: Where is your GDPR now????? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, good point. This breach sure would have been a lot worse if GDPR was never passed.

  14. It's good to know. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The home addresses of traitors and their support network.

  15. Re: If they have nothing to hide they have nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, they carefully want to collect all the data no matter whether it is just partial field or very sensitive data or larger collections of any type from all the people that live in Germany. They stated that data protection laws are only hindering police investigation by protecting criminals.

  16. 14 German Words by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They aren't 14 words in german, dipshit.

    Oh shit, don't tell these guys they've been wasting their time:

    https://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/

  17. Re:OR... alternatively those guys secure their acc by bkmoore · · Score: 1

    could it be that of all people the right takes security more seriously than the pie-in-the-sky people ? Just an idea....

    I very highly doubt the AfD has better computer security than anyone else, unless they've gone completely off line and are using carrier pigeons to pass notes written in invisible ink using some ancient Masonic code. Or the more likely scenario, the hackers are seeking to hurt one political party and assist another one in support their own external agenda, such as weakening Germany's involvement in the EU and in NATO.

  18. Re: Where is your GDPR now????? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And... A "leak" is from within the organization. When it's an outsider taking it, there's another word for that.

  19. Re:OR... alternatively those guys secure their acc by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    They suck just as badly. A couple of years ago there was a criminal investigation stemming from leaked WhatsApp groups. Yeah, Facebook owned WhatsApp.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  20. Re:OR... alternatively those guys secure their acc by sexconker · · Score: 1

    Yes, yes, Mr. Mueller. We believe you. Take all the time you need with that report.

  21. Re: Where is your GDPR now????? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What word, "rusianhackers"?

  22. Re:here is the magnet link to the torrent ... by stiebing.ja · · Score: 1

    FTR: the link is only some old 911 bullshit

    --
    I lag
  23. Merkel asked for this to happen... by ffkom · · Score: 1

    ... in 2016, at about the time the data was stolen: https://www.theregister.co.uk/...

    She should not complain now that her wish was granted, and Big Data business is being made with her data.

  24. Fuck ... wrong link! Don't burn my Karma by bd580slashdot · · Score: 1

    Fuck ... wrong link! disregard! sorry!

    Don't burn my karma. Unintended mistake!