Talk Elections

A preliminary analysis showed the data had been obtained through “wrongful use of log-in information for cloud services, email accounts or social networks”, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a statement late on Friday.

He said there was no evidence that the computer systems of the German lower house of parliament or the government had been compromised, but provided no further details.

The ministry said it remained unclear if the breach, which triggered an emergency meeting of the BSI national cyber defense agency, was the result of a hack or a leak.

Authorities were investigating all possibilities, including espionage, according to one government source, who said it was unlikely that any single person could have compiled the massive amounts of data that had been released.

The public broadcaster rbb, which broke the story, said the data, published on a Twitter account, included addresses, personal letters and copies of identity cards. It said the identity of the perpetrators and their motive were not known.

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Die Welt newspaper reported late Friday that published lists included names of 410 members of Merkel’s conservatives, 230 Social Democrats, 106 Greens party members, 91 members of the radical Left party and 28 Free Democrats.
POLITICAL PARTIES HIT

The BSI said all but one of the seven parties in the lower house had been affected. German media said that party was the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The German government and security agencies have been accused of not taking internet security seriously, following a huge data breach that affected hundreds of politicians and celebrities.

Joachim Herrmann, interior minister for the southern state of Bavaria, said he was appalled at the way the federal government and information security agency, the BSI, was handling the scandal, the biggest data leak in German history, after it was revealed it had dismissed a breach in December as one-off incident.

“I was astonished at the way they communicated this, it was bewildering,” he told the tabloid Bild.

Herrmann said he believed the perpetrator behind the hack was an individual and not a foreign government, as was initially feared, with many pointing the finger at Russia.

A 19-year-old German man was being questioned by police on Monday, over his alleged involvement with the hacker believed to be responsible. Police raided the teenager’s house in the town of Heilbronn in south-west Germany on Sunday and took away the contents of rubbish bins and computer equipment.

Identified only as Jan S, he has denied being the main perpetrator behind the leaks but claims to know “Orbit”, the hacker who has claimed responsibility via Twitter.

Police did not name the 20-year-old but said he lives with his parents, is not a computer expert and had no previous conviction. Despite that, he managed to access and leak personal data and documents from about 1,000 people, including Chancellor Merkel, other politicians and journalists.

The student was detained after police searched a property in the central state of Hesse on Sunday evening. Investigators recovered a computer that the suspect had removed two days before the search, and a data backup.

He has been released and is cooperating with investigators.

“The accused admitted to having acted alone in data spying and the unauthorized publication of data,” the Federal Crime Office (BKA) said in a statement.

“The investigations have so far provided no indication of the participation of a third party.”