Mercenary intruders infiltrated Merz's schedule.
Back in June, a severe cyber attack was discovered targeting the CDU party's network. It was considered the worst hacking incident to ever hit a German political organization. Now it's been revealed that the personal data of the party chairman is also compromised. A CDU spokesperson mentioned that the calendar data from the chairman has been leaked during the investigations. No other information was shared as the probe is still ongoing.
The North Rhine-Westphalia State Criminal Office and the Central and Contact Point Cybercrime North Rhine-Westphalia have stepped in to lead the investigation as the CDU's IT subsidiary is located in this region. The official announcement was made through a spokesperson.
This cyber attack was disclosed at the beginning of June. Both the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Office for Information Security started their inquiries. In response to the situation, some portions of the party's IT systems were temporarily disconnected from the network. Earlier reports suggested that the central member database was also affected.
After the hacking incident happened in June, Friedrich Merz, then-party leader, commented that it was the most significant assault on an IT system encountered by a political party in Germany. The perpetrators displayed exceptional skill and determination, Merz said. "We need to do everything in our power to protect ourselves from this attack," he added. Initially, there was no word on the extent of the damage or the identity of the attackers, which means the investigation is ongoing.
Interestingly, in 2020, even the SPD party faced a similar situation. Email accounts at the party head office were hacked and it was linked to a unit of a Russian military intelligence service. The German Foreign Office summoned a top Russian diplomat and recalled Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the German ambassador to Moscow, to Berlin for a week of consultations.
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It's been reported that the investigation into the CDU's cyber attack has suggested links to Russia, as similar incidents with the SPD in 2020 were traced back to a Russian military intelligence service. With the CDU's IT subsidiary located in North Rhine-Westphalia, it's not surprising that Hacker groups could potentially target key political figures like Friedrich Merz, the former party leader who criticized the attack as the most significant assault on an IT system in German political history.
