Uncovered vulnerability - Following a cyberattack on CDU, the state legislature examines its own systems.
The CDU faced a cyber attack, and now the Düsseldorf state parliament is examining if their systems are also utilizing the susceptible software that was used in the assault. This revelation comes from an internal email from the parliament's IT security department, obtained by the dpa.
A parliament spokesperson verified the process and stated, "At present, there are no suggestions that the parliament has been compromised. However, the check is being performed to ascertain whether systems that were impacted by the vulnerability were used in the parliament."
In the Monday-sent email to all factions, it's mentioned that the attackers capitalized on a critical security flaw in the software of a CDU provider's systems. "By exploiting the security issue, the assailant can access the entire local file system of the affected device and may potentially extract the login details for all local accounts," note the IT technicians from the parliament.
Despite no clear evidence of additional victims besides the CDU, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) suggest a thorough examination of the systems due to the up-and-coming European elections.
The parliament's email states, "The verification to see if devices affected by the vulnerability were used is presently being conducted by the IT department. If you notice any irregularities in your IT applications that may hint at a cyber assault, please immediately notify the IT department and the Information Security Department."
Prior to the European elections, a week ago, the CDU was targeted in a cyber attack. This matter is being taken extremely seriously, as reported over the weekend from government sources. The Interior Ministry affirmed a severe attack on the party's network. Nonetheless, no information could be shared about the extent of the damage or the attacker due to ongoing investigations. "The nature of the attack indicates a very skilled actor," said a representative.
