Attack on email hosting provider for German far right party AfD exposed 345k accounts
Alternative für Deutschland swats away scandals as reporters swarm leaked email tranche
The far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) suffered a significant cyberattack that exposed the confidential emails and attachments of over 345,000 unique email addresses. The breach occurred when the party's hosting provider, AfD-owned Alternita Dienstleistungs GmbH, was compromised. AfD's statement acknowledged that only a few email accounts had been illegally copied, but a large amount of data had been taken from them.
The attackers gained persistent access to the servers and exfiltrated over a terabyte of data. The stolen emails were compiled into searchable topics on an activist website, leading to the publication of various revelations, including disputed claims of racial and antisemitic discourse from a party co-leader. AfD stated that the owners of the affected email accounts have been notified and that the attack has been reported to security authorities.
The party expressed concern over the alleged analysis of stolen documents using rudimentary AI, which they deny as trustworthy.
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