[BreachExchange] Hackers leak details of German politicians

[Destry Winant]

https://www.itproportal.com/news/hackers-leak-details-of-german-politicians/

German politicians’ private data has been leaked on Twitter, the media
are reporting this Friday morning. Almost all politicians from major
parties have had their personal information stolen and leaked, with
the exception of the far-right AfD.

The information that was leaked includes full names, addresses,
personal letters and ID cards, but also credit card details and mobile
phone numbers, according to ARD TV and rbb.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as President Frank-Walter
Steinmeier were also among the affected, The Rheinische Post reports.

As for the possible motive of the move, it is yet unknown. They also
don’t know who’s behind the leak.

“I can confirm that there has been an incident”, the Linke party
spokesman said. Linke is being mentioned as one of the parties that
was hit hardest. Dietmar Bartsch, the leader of the party’s group in
Germany’s lower house of parliament was also affected.

According to the Bild newspaper, secure internal networks of Germany’s
government were not breached. The national cyberdefence body met to
coordinate the response of federal government agencies, this morning.
That includes domestic and foreign intelligence agencies, it was said.

They added that the meeting started as soon as they became aware of
the issue, and that the leaked information does not contain
incriminating content.

Some commentators have noted that the leak appears to have come from
the same source that has regularly been leaking information on German
celebrities in December 2018.

"There are several facts that point towards this hack being
orchestrated from an organisation leaning politically towards the far
right," notes  Caitlin Huey, senior threat intelligence analyst at
EclecticIQ. "For instance, information from members of the rightwing
party AfD were excluded. The now suspended Twitter account was
following only a few accounts, among which was the notorious
anonymousnews.ru. The suspended account had also liked posts from
users that were openly outspoken against refugees.

“The evidence suggests that an organisation with far-right leaning may
have the strongest motivation for the leak. It could also be
speculated that this was a response to the explosive that was
detonated in front of one of the AfD offices yesterday. However, there
is nothing conclusive at this time, and even obvious evidence can
sometimes point towards a false-flag campaign.”