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Messenger hackedFederal government sees Russia behind wave of signal attacks
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (archive photo)
via REUTERS / Alexander Kazakov
The federal government sees Russia as the suspected mastermind behind the attacks on users of the Signal messenger service from politics, business and the media. This was announced on Saturday from government circles. It cannot therefore be ruled out that other users are affected.
The security authorities have now informed those affected by the so-called phishing attack that the flow of data from the affected devices has been stopped, it said.
Initial suspicion of espionage
German and foreign security services have been warning for months about a wave of so-called phishing attacks aimed at secretly taking over Signal accounts of politicians, civil servants, diplomats, military personnel and journalists. According to a spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office, Federal Attorney General Jens Rommel initiated an investigation in February, which is based on the initial suspicion of espionage.
According to information from Spiegel, the hack extends to the federal government: Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) and Construction Minister Verena Hubertz (SPD) were affected, the magazine reported on Saturday, without providing further information about its sources.
“The Signal accounts of the two politicians are said to have been compromised,” it continued. This means that the extent of the wave of attacks takes on a new dimension. It was only on Wednesday that Spiegel reported that Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU) was one of the victims of the phishing campaign. (afp, sfu)
Source used: afp
