Germany’s digital defense body is “intensively” investigating the apparent data leak that saw data of hundreds of politicians from across the political spectrum being published online, a spokesman for the Federal Office for IT Safety (BSI) told the AFP news agency on Friday. Deutsche Welle reports.
The hack targeted all of Germany’s political parties currently represented in the federal parliament, except for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Politicians at the state level were also affected.
Preliminary review showed discovered no sensitive information. However, the data published on Twitter included mobile phone numbers, contact info, and credit card details from of members of Germany’s major parties. The lead also included banking and financial details, ID cards and private chats.
Chancellery data leaked
Among the apparent targets were Chancellor Angela Merkel and her president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“With regard to the chancellery it seems that, judging by the initial review, no sensitive information and data have been published and this includes (from) the chancellor,” a government spokeswoman told reporters.
The hackers published Merkel’s fax number, email address and several letters written by and addressed to her, according to the DPA news agency.
Info leak as early as December
The document leak was first discovered Thursday evening, the RBB Inforadio, a Berlin-area German public broadcaster reported. However, the documents had apparently been posted online as early as December 2018 over a Hamburg-based Twitter account that released them in an Advent-calendar style. The Twitter account describes itself with labels such as security research, artist and satire.
The account has since been closed. The authenticity of the leaked data could not be immediately verified and no discernible pattern could be detected to the leaked documents. There is no known suspect or motivation at present.
On Friday, German defense ministry announced they were not affected by the alleged hacking.
According to the Reuters news agency, the Germany’s BSI was only informed about the hacking shortly before the story was reported by the German media.