One week before the European elections, the CDU fell victim to a cyberattack. The Interior Ministry confirmed a serious hacker attack on the party’s network. Everything points to a professional actor.
The CDU has fallen victim to a cyberattack. The Interior Ministry confirmed the incident, describing it as a “serious” hacker attack on the party’s network. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) have begun investigations.
The security authorities are working intensively to ward off the attack, investigate it and prevent further damage, said a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Nothing can be said yet about the extent of the damage or the attacker. However, the nature of the action points to a very professional actor.
Warning to other parties
According to a CDU spokeswoman, parts of the IT infrastructure were taken offline and isolated as a precautionary measure. However, the website cdu.de was initially still accessible.
According to government sources, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has already spoken to CDU party leader Friedrich Merz about the incident. The CDU said it is now working closely with German security authorities and other external security experts.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution will issue a warning to all parties in the German Bundestag on Saturday, said the Interior Ministry spokesman. “Our security authorities have ramped up all protective measures against digital and hybrid threats and are raising awareness of the dangers. We are seeing once again how necessary this is, especially before elections.”
Cyberattack also against SPD
The SPD was also the victim of a cyberattack last year. Email accounts at the party headquarters were hacked. The German government blames a unit of the Russian military intelligence service for the attack. The Foreign Office therefore summoned a high-ranking Russian diplomat at the beginning of May and recalled the German ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, to Berlin for a week for consultations.
In addition to the SPD, the attack also affected German companies from the logistics, armaments, aerospace and IT services sectors. According to the SPD, it was made possible by a then-unknown security vulnerability at the software company Microsoft.