In a surprising turn of events, German Politicians were hit by an enormous data leak. This left some of the big names such as Chancellor Angela Merkel and several others affected.
Although it is being investigated as to whether the incident was a hack or a leak, the personal data of these German public figures was available online for over a month. Reportedly, the personal details of these politicians were available online, all December.
The leak
According to reports, a Twitter account leaked the personal details of several politicians and public figures. The concerned Twitter account “G0d” @Orbit responsible for the leak, remains suspended. Although the leak was discovered recently, reports state that the data has been publicly available since December 2018.
It is unknown when exactly the leak took place, but it does not appear to include politically sensitive data. At least not from Chancellor Merkel’s office, and the same was confirmed by a Spokesperson from Merkel’s office. This news came to light when a German newspaper, The Bild reported the matter.
Martina Fietz, the Spokesperson for the German Government confirmed the incident and said
“Personal data and documents belonging to hundreds of politicians and public figures were published on the internet,” government spokeswoman Martina Fietz told reporters.” She added, “The government is taking this incident very seriously.”
This leak includes personal data such as contact details, identity cards and personal communication of several German Political figures. This could have a great impact on the affected persons.
According to reports, it is unknown as to how much data is available with the third party, which made it public. Also, the data leaked indicates that it was available to the person or group, only until October 2018. However, it is yet to be confirmed as to when the unauthorized access had first begun. Also, since the long list of victims includes personalities from various parties, the motive of the attack is yet to be investigated.