Massive data leak targets German officials including Chancellor Angela Merkel
Berlin, Jan 4: Private data stolen from hundreds of German politicians including Chancellor Angela Merkel have been published online, the government said Friday, in a stunning breach of cyber security.
The information, which comprised home addresses, mobile phone numbers, letters, invoices and copies of identity documents, was first released via Twitter in December but its spread gathered pace this week.
It was not immediately clear whether the officials were targeted by hackers or the victims of an internal leak of the data, some of which dates back to 2017.
"Personal data and documents belonging to hundreds of politicians and public figures were published on the internet," government spokeswoman Martina Fietz said.
"The government is taking this incident very seriously." Among those affected were members of the Bundestag lower house of parliament and the European Parliament as well as regional and local assemblies, she said.
Deputies from all parties represented in the Bundestag were targeted, as well as President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, an interior ministry spokesman said.
However Christian Lueth, parliamentary group speaker for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), later said that his party's deputies were not hit by the attack and the interior ministry later confirmed this.
Fietz said a preliminary investigation indicated that "no sensitive information or data" from Merkel's office had been leaked.
Berlin's political establishment nevertheless reacted with alarm.
"Whoever is behind this wants to damage faith in our democracy and its institutions," Justice Minister Katarina Barley said in a statement.
The far-left Linke's parliamentary group chief, Dietmar Bartsch, called it "an attack on democracy".
Beyond politicians, the leak also exposed the private data of celebrities and journalists, including chats and voicemail messages from spouses and children of those targeted.
The daily Bild and public broadcaster RBB first reported the leak. Bild said it was not clear when the data theft began but said it continued until the end of October.
"At first glance, it does not seem that politically sensitive material was included," RBB said.
"However the damage is likely to be massive given the volume of personal data published." The interior ministry spokesman said it was unclear who was behind the data dump, which derived both from social media and private "cloud" data.
A deputy from Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, Patrick Sensburg, pointed the finger at right-wing extremists.
"I assume this was a hacker attack by people close to the AfD," he told the daily Handelsblatt.
Fietz said the amount of Merkel's data that was exposed was "not excessive" but warned that some of the documents and information published might have been faked.
Given the vast range of data hoovered up, IT experts said it seemed unlikely that it was taken from a single source.
Parliamentary group leaders were notified of the attack late Thursday and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and the domestic intelligence service said they were investigating.
"According to our current information, government networks have not been targeted," BSI tweeted.
The Twitter account @_0rbit published the links every day last month, along the lines of an advent calendar with each link to new information hidden behind a "door".
The account, which calls itself G0d, was opened in mid-2017 and purportedly has more than 18,000 followers.
It described its activities as "security researching", "artist" and "satire and irony" and said it was based in Hamburg.
A link to Merkel's data showed two email addresses used by the chancellor, a fax number and letters apparently written by her and to her.
By midday Friday, Twitter had suspended the account.
Last year, the domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said there had been repeated cyberattacks against MPs, the military and several embassies that were allegedly carried out by Russian internet espionage group "Snake".
Also known as "Turla" or "Uruburos", the group -- which targets state departments and embassies worldwide -- is believed to have links to Russian intelligence.
Last March, computer networks belonging to the German government came under sustained attack and data from foreign ministry staff was stolen.
At the time, Moscow denied that Russian hackers were involved.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
