Prior to the European polls. - Major cyber attack targets the CDU organization; authorities probe for possible security violations.
The CDU, a political party in Europe, has fallen victim to a cyber-attack, as per reports from the government. This incident is being seen seriously, with government sources speaking about it on Saturday. The Interior Ministry has confirmed a major cyber-attack on the CDU's network. The current extent of the harm caused or the attacker is unknown as the investigations are ongoing. A spokesperson said, "The nature of the attack suggests a very professional actor."
At first, it was uncertain if private data was leaked. However, a CDU spokesperson stated that the IT infrastructure was shut down and isolated as a precautionary measure. The CDU's website (cdu.de) was still functioning. The "Neue Westfälische" reported on this occurrence, quoting the General Secretary, Carsten Linnemann.
From government sources, it was learnt that Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has already spoken with party head Friedrich Merz. The CDU has started working closely with German security organizations and external security experts. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Office for Information Security have initiated probes into this matter.
SPD Cyber-Attack by Russian Military Intelligence
An alert would be issued to all parties of the German Bundestag by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution on Saturday, says a spokesperson from the Interior Ministry. "Our security agencies have enforced all protective measures against digital and hybrid threats to ascertain the dangers. This incident reiterates the importance of such measures, especially before elections."
Last year, the SPD too became a victim of a cyber-attack. Their email accounts at the party headquarters were infiltrated. The federal government confirmed a unit of the Russian military intelligence service responsible for that attack. The Foreign Office summoned a senior Russian diplomat in May, recalling the German ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, for consultations in Berlin for a week.
Apart from the SPD, German companies in various sectors such as logistics, defense, aviation and space, and IT services were targeted. These attacks were possible, as per the SPD, due to a security loophole in the software company Microsoft.
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The hacker attack on the CDU, a German political party, has sparked concerns within the Ministry of the Interior, who are collaborating with the CDU and external security experts to investigate the matter. In a similar incident last year, the SPD, another German political party, experienced a cyber-attack with links to the Russian military intelligence service. Carsten Linnemann, the General Secretary of the Landsmannschaft in the CC Sorabia-Westfalen in Münster, has also been actively involved in addressing cybersecurity concerns in political parties.
