Slashdot Mirror
Germany Reportedly Seeks US Assistance After Hacking Breach (bloomberg.com)
German authorities sought help from the U.S. National Security Agency after discovering that hackers had released private data linked to Chancellor Angela Merkel and hundreds of other German politicians, Bild newspaper reported. From a report: Responding to the biggest data dump of its kind in the country, German investigators wanted the U.S. intelligence agency to lean on Twitter to shut down profiles with links to the data, Bild said, citing unidentified security officials. German authorities argued that U.S. citizens were among thousands of people exposed by the data dump. As investigators seek to find out how data including email addresses, mobile phone numbers and private chat protocols were exposed, politicians took aim at Germany's Federal Office for Information Security, known as BSI, for failing to respond after receiving initial indications in December.
She deserves to be given all the respect that she has given to the current administration.
Anonymous coward -- kind of says it all...
They are smart to go to the source of the hack. And ask nicely!
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
"James Borr" all you've said is you're too much of a faggot to actually have anything to say in reply. Suck Putin's dick directly, cut out the middle traitor.
The crappiest crap press around here. I wouldn't take that seriously.
Except mostly incompetently given that they are government workers.
Corporatism != Free Market
Our government allows the US to spy on us, because snooping on one's own people is frowned upon. This "asking for help" is just how German law enforcement circumvents the Fernmeldegeheimnis (privacy of telecommunications). They are not allowed to record everybody's internet traffic, but they can ask someone who does record everything.
You may wonder, they are trying to use the US intelligence service now. Was Germany helpful in the past for example when the Wikileaks cables were published?
Support Eachother, Copy Dutch Property!
Why would anyone put "private data linked to Chancellor Merkel and hundreds of other German politicians" on a network? Corporations do this because they can save a few cents here and there. And they have no reason to protect their customers data.
But - despite the GDPR's supposed focus on privacy - the Germans have displayed that they are a bunch of bumbling fools.
Perhaps the sole purpose of the GDPR was to provide an income stream.
They got what they deserved.
At least they didn't leak the new crime statistics now that Merkel let dangerous, unfiltered Islamic refugees into the country. Now THAT would be damaging.
you may be surprised to find that large swaths of the world disagree with ypu on that. Go look how Germany is precieved in opinion polls arpund the world. (And if ur really coragious compare that to how the US is precieved...)
After years of "stopping evil hackers in their tracks" by making possession of hacking tools illegal, and mostly by hoping for the best while furiously clicking in some Internet Explorer input mask, Germany finally wakes up to the real world. Well, not really yet, because Seehofer still hasn't stepped down over this, the BSI still hasn't been disbanded and restarted from scratch (this time with real people), and I guess Munich is still going ahead full steam towards a Windows only administration, because "some essential educational software package really, really requires it". Now they go crying to big Mommy USA, pleading for help, making even bigger fools of themselves in front of the general public (which doesn't really seem to care all that much anyway).
Hint to all Germans: if some right wing nutter can grab this much data from that many politicians across the political spectrum, without most of them even noticing, imagine what the Chinese/Russians/North Koreans are doing to you every day. And sorry, Seehofer, airtight surveillance of all your citizen's internet traffic will not fix that.
Hint to all other Europeans: quit laughing about the silly Germans already, you know you will be next in line if anyone ever cared about you.
So let's take a look... Most countries in the EU dislike Germany (or better, Merkel) for opening the borders in 2015 without asking. Now Europe has the refugee problem that is driving up votes for right wing parties all across the EU. Her refusal to stop it by closing borders again also fuels the migration because poor and unqualified people see that they only need to make it to the EU to have a better life; so indirectly, this could make her responsible for everybody who dies on the way there.
And instead of admitting her failure and trying to fix the root causes as promised numerous times, she now steps down as cancellor, leaving the EU in shambles, ripe for the right wing.
Seriously kid, just STFU. The "Orange Man Bad" BS is just so tired now as well as lame.
big social platforms should be regulated to offer universal 2 factor authentication (with FIDO), like google does already;
then only "allowed" devices can access your account, regardless, how weak your password...