Hackers steal 421,000 emails belonging to members of Germany's far-right AfD party
It remains unclear who was responsible for the attack and whether additional data has been compromised.
Hackers infiltrated email accounts of members of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, stealing a substantial amount of messages, the party reported on Tuesday. Over 421,000 emails were targeted in the cyber attack last month, according to the Bild daily. Among the stolen communications were messages sent by party co-leader Alice Weidel and co-founder Alexander Gauland, as per the Bild.
The hackers published summaries of some emails but did not release the original messages. The published emails included photos of ID cards of party members, bank statements, membership applications, and lists of local AfD branches, Bild reported. The AfD party confirmed to the AFP news agency that their email service provider had been targeted, and a small number of email accounts, most of which were inactive, were unlawfully accessed.
The breach was quickly identified and halted, and all users were subsequently notified, according to an AfD statement. The party stated they were reviewing the published information. The identity of the perpetrators and whether further data has been compromised remain unclear. The anti-immigration, Russia-friendly AfD party is currently leading national opinion polls and won the first position in two state elections last month, significantly outpacing Chancellor Friedrich Merz's center-right CDU.
The party has set its sights on forming Germany's first far-right state government since World War II in Saxony-Anhalt.
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