Office for the Protection of the Constitution responded to a cyber attack on CDU.
The CDU has fallen prey to a hacking incident. The Federal Interior Ministry acknowledges this as a severe cyber attack on their network, prompting the activation of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Sources linked to the government consider this issue of high importance.
The CDU is the latest target of a cyber attack, happening just a week before the European elections. The extent of the harm or the attacker is still undetermined, but it's being viewed as a serious matter by government sources. The Interior Ministry officially confirmed a major cyber attack on the party's network.
As of now, it's uncertain if crucial information was compromised. A CDU representative stated, "As a precautionary measure, we took down our IT infrastructure and isolated it." Although the party's website, cdu.de, remained functional initially, it has since been taken offline. The "Neue Westfälische" used General Secretary Carsten Linnemann's statement as a source on the topic.
The government's insiders shared that Interior Minister and SPD member Nancy Faeser had already conversed with CDU leader Friedrich Merz about the issue. The CDU is now cooperating intently with German security organizations and external IT specialists. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Office for Information Security have begun their investigations.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution will notify all parties in the German Bundestag about the situation on Saturday, as per the Interior Ministry's spokesperson. "Our safety authorities have heightened all protective measures against digital and hybrid threats and are discerning potential dangers. This event further illustrates the significance of such measures, particularly prior to elections."
The SPD experienced a similar cyber attack last year. Back then, hackers infiltrated the party headquarters' email accounts. The German administration blamed the Russian military intelligence service for that attack and summoned a highly-ranked Russian diplomat in early May. Germany also sent the German envoy to Moscow, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, for a week of consultations in Berlin.
The victims of the previous attack included not only the SPD but also German businesses active in logistics, armaments, aviation, and space travel, as well as IT services. The attack was plausible because of an unidentified security vulnerability within Microsoft's software at the time.
