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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.

35 of 88 comments (clear)

  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 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.

    3. 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.

    4. 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
    5. 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.

    6. 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.

    7. 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.

    8. 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.)

    9. 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."
    10. 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
    11. 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.

    12. 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
    13. 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
    14. 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
    15. 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.

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      Om, nomnomnom...
    16. 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.

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      Om, nomnomnom...
    17. 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.

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      Om, nomnomnom...
    18. 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.

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      Om, nomnomnom...
    19. 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'?
    20. 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
  2. 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....

  3. 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.

  4. 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"
  5. 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.

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

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

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    -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  7. 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.

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

    The home addresses of traitors and their support network.

  9. 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.

  10. 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
  11. 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.

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

    FTR: the link is only some old 911 bullshit

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    I lag
  13. 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.

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

    Fuck ... wrong link! disregard! sorry!

    Don't burn my karma. Unintended mistake!