Skip to Content
Computing

German politicians have had their personal data hacked and then dumped online

January 4, 2019

The hack has hit hundreds of politicians from all major parties and includes bank details, emails, addresses, private chats, and ID card details.

The news: Public broadcaster RBB said the data was tweeted out by a Twitter account over the weeks before Christmas, althiough it was only discovered last night. All major parties except the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) were affected, according to Der Spiegel magazine. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The account has now been suspended.
 
Victims: German newspaper Bild says that the entire German cabinet is affected, including Chancellor Angela Merkel. A number of high-profile musicians and comedians have also been caught up in the attack. The data released does not appear to be politically sensitive (and some of it is out of date). Justice Minister Katarina Barley told the BBC: “The people behind this want to damage confidence in our democracy and institutions.”

Response: News of the hack has prompted Germany’s intelligence agencies to meet this morning to coordinate a response. The country’s internal computer networks have not been breached, according to Bild.

Deep Dive

Computing

How Rust went from a side project to the world’s most-loved programming language

For decades, coders wrote critical systems in C and C++. Now they turn to Rust.

Welcome to the oldest part of the metaverse

Ultima Online, which just turned 25, offers a lesson in the challenges of building virtual worlds.

A new paradigm for managing data

Open data lakehouse architectures speed insights and deliver self-service analytics capabilities.

Three ways networking services simplify network management

The right networking services orchestrate note-perfect network performance.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.