Internet security : the data theft came through phone calls to Martin Schulz to the light

More than 1,000 politicians, journalists, artists and celebrities have become the victim of the probably biggest data scandal in German history. The or the as yet unknown perpetrators have countless service but also private data, photos and documents from the Concerned and published on the Internet. Among them Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and numerous members of the Federal government. Since Friday morning Federal criminal police office, the intelligence service, the protection of the Constitution and the Federal office for information security (BSI).

On Thursday night it was reported that a Twitter Account had been published since December, personal data and documents of hundreds of persons of the public life in the network, including Links to phone numbers, private addresses, Chat histories, correspondence, or most intimate photos. The documents are likely to be for the most part authentic, wherein the security authorities have not completed the tests yet. According to information from security circles, the process has become known through calls from citizens in the case of the SPD politician Martin Schulz. The caller had found his private number in the network. Schulz turned to the police.

The security authorities had apparently a long time knowledge of the data theft. "We have already spoken very early in December with the help of individual members who were affected, accordingly", said the President of the BSI, Arne Schönbohm, on Friday the television station Phoenix. It had also been counter-measures initiated. Among other things, a special team had been dispatched for assistance in Concerned. Why the security authorities interference consistent, is unclear.

The Federal government is taking the incident "very seriously", said the Deputy government spokeswoman Martina Fietz on Friday. Affected politicians "at all levels", Deputy of the European Parliament, the Bundestag, state parliaments and local parliaments. The spokeswoman called for caution in dealing with the data. The experience shows that in such cases, bogus data would be fed. According to Fietz, a first examination of the publications with reference to the Federal Chancellery and Chancellor Angela Merkel has revealed that no sensitive data had been made available. Apparently this also applies to the Federal ministries and the armed forces.

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The coordination of the response to the attack has taken the Federal office for security in information technology based Cyber defence centre. How the hackers got to the data, according to the findings of the Federal government, which is currently not known with any certainty. If the Online-accessible information, it is a matter of "both-to-date data than to older data," said a spokesman of the German interior Minister, Horst Seehofer (CSU). There is currently no evidence that the discharge was made via government networks.

According to the spokesman, authorities were attempting to take sensitive data out of the network. In fact, the Twitter was blocked-Account with Links to your personal data and documents on Friday morning. The attorney General laid out according to a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of justice, a monitoring process of the case, because of the suspicion that the state was the protection of-related offences.

The AfD is not affected by the Leak

The security authorities to go to the suspicion that German law could, extremists and right-wing populists to the hacker attack on the politicians involved. It is in the case that the AfD was not at least affected according to previous findings, said safety circuit on Friday to the daily mirror. This is also the Federal government has confirmed the Ministry of the interior.

As suspects radicalized hackers came out of the gray zone between the AfD and the right-wing extremists in question, it said in security circles. Several experts referred to the aggressive Propaganda of the operate, mainly members of the Identitarian movement on the Internet. The stresses actionist occurring grouping is observed from the protection of the Constitution due to indications of right-wing extremist aspirations. Parts of the AfD sympathize with the Identity.

Video 04.01.2019, 15:11 Uhr01:15 Min.Massive data theft hits politicians and celebrities

security circles, it is also conceivable that Identitarian or other extreme Right-wing cooperate in the current case, with Russian hackers. An indication of the Wealth of older Material on the German Bundestag Deputy, has now been published. In the spring of 2015, the Russian hacker group, "Fancy Bear had attacked" the Bundestag and the data in a volume of 16 gigabytes captured. The Material, however, was not known to the public. This could be, at least in Parts of the case, said safety circuits. Behind Fancy Bear, also known as the Sofacy Group, according to findings by the security authorities of the Russian military intelligence service GRU.

last year, former President of the Federal office for the protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, had warned in his term of office on the occasion of the Russian hacker attacks for several times in front of a "hybrid war" of Russia against the West. How the German press Agency learned, however, from the Bundestag, the BSI at present is that the data from the public areas of the Internet as Social media or websites, and partly from private "cloud data" – and not from the current attacks on the networks of German government and the Bundestag.

politicians complain of a lack of IT security

politicians and political parties have condemned the hacker's attack on Friday as an attack on democratic values. At the same time, they requested clarification as to why the security agencies have not been earlier the data leakage carefully. Apparently, there had been a in December, anecdotal evidence, personal data of politicians circulating in the network.

Minister of state Dorothee Bär (CSU), warned against jumping to conclusions, as the review process was still ongoing. "For the reason should and can be drawn any consequences from the attack," she said . Manuel Höferlin, the digital policy spokesman of the FDP parliamentary group, criticized the role of the safety authorities. "Why has not seen the safety authority? The all on 21. December in the holiday go?“, he asked.

SPD-digital politician Saskia esque wish for a stronger awareness of IT security. "We should be the dangers clear. Also: How do I deal with passwords? Or what I put into the grid and what is not?“ Esque criticized the Ministry of the interior. "If you have money for a poster campaign for the so-called 'return advice' of asylum seekers, then sufficient funds should be available to educate citizens in front of the most common errors in handling data."

Also, the Greens are calling for a strengthening of data protection in the network. "We need to get real proactive measures to increase IT security," said the Parliamentary business Manager Britta Haßelmann. "A waiver of the state's trade with security vulnerabilities, end-to-end end-to-end encryption and strengthening independent regulatory structures." Haßelmann sees a "very serious attempt to destabilize our democracy."

Of the Hack also Berlin and Brandenburg members are affected, among other things, the state of Brandenburg head of the government, Dietmar Woidke (SPD), Federal Minister of family Affairs Franziska Giffey (SPD) and the Berlin CDU leader and state Minister for Culture Monika Grütters.

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