Hackers Release Personal Data of Merkel and Other German Politicians

• Hackers have gained access to large amounts of data from almost all German political parties.
• A sample was leaked to the public through Twitter, indicating the size of the dump and the type of the acquired information.
• The investigation is still ongoing, while the officials claim the data has not been drained via the government network.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as hundreds of German politicians, see their personal information being released to the public by hackers. In the context of what seems to be the biggest data dump in the history of the country, hackers have acquired key data stemming from the top ranks of Germany’s politicians and published them on Twitter through an account named “G0d” which has been deleted in the meantime. Although the account holder claimed to reside in Hamburg and identifies as a security researcher, this is unlikely to be the case in reality.

The data that was leaked to the public include email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and fax numbers, photos of IDs, personal chat histories, and even rental-car contracts and letters. Even information relating to applications for party congresses, party-internal communication, and membership lists have leaked out. The information that was leaked now is linked to Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Economy Minister Peter Almaier. Parts of the disclosed information date back to several years ago, so it is speculated that the hackers got hold to a massive database of key information that appears to affect all major political parties of the country except for the “Alternative for Germany”.

The cybersecurity investigation, domestic intelligence and defense agencies of the country have not commented yet, as the investigation is still ongoing. However, this is not the first time that someone steals data from the German parliamentary network. In 2015, attackers dumped 16 gigabytes of data, while in 2017, hackers got access to CDU and SPD data servers. Back then, Trend Micro linked the attacks to Russian intelligence hacking groups, and such a possibility cannot be excluded this time either.

The official statement of the Federal government on the matter was the following: “The federal government is currently investigating whether the published data was actually fished out by a hacker attack. According to dpa information, it is also considered possible that someone who has access to sensitive data through his or her activity could have put it online. It is already clear that the data has not been drained via the government network. A possible point of attack is the network of the Bundestag.”

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