German federal prosecutors said on Thursday (September 9) that they are investigating allegations of hacking against legislators before the German election this month, and Berlin blamed Russia.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office told AFP that when asked about the German government’s allegations of “phishing” attacks against members of parliament by Russian intelligence agencies this week, it had begun “investigations into suspected espionage activities”.
Berlin this week strongly criticized Russia’s attempts to influence the new parliamentary elections on September 26 and Angela Merkel’s successor as prime minister.
It pointed the finger at the hackers of the Russian “Ghostwriter” organization, which reportedly specializes in disseminating false information. German intelligence agencies believe that they have been trying to access the private e-mail accounts of federal and regional parliamentarians.
According to a report by Der Spiegel, the German authorities stated that the Russian military intelligence agency GRU was behind the attack and specifically targeted politicians of the ruling Christian Democratic Party (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Germany.
Thomas Haldenwang, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, warned in July that such hackers had successfully stolen personal information that could be used in the weeks leading up to the election.
The competition is very close, with SPD leading the CDU by only three to four percentage points.
The European Union and the United States have repeatedly accused Moscow of trying to intervene in democratic elections, and the Kremlin disagrees.
‘Influence operation’
Andrea Sasse, a spokesman for the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called on Monday to “stop” cyber attacks and threatened Moscow that if it does not stop the attacks, it will bear unspecified “consequences.”
Sass said the attack used “phishing emails and other methods” to access the personal login data of members of Congress to “steal their identities.”
She said these attempts may be “preparation for influential actions in the general election, such as false propaganda activities.”
Germany accused Russia of launching several cyber attacks on its territory.
So far, the most high-profile incident attributed to Russian hackers is a cyber attack in 2015 that completely paralyzed the computer network of the Bundestag’s lower house, forcing the entire institution to go offline for several days during the repair period.
In another well-known case heard by a German court, a Russian man was tried on suspicion of assassinating a former Chechen commander in Berlin Park under the order of Russia.
Earlier this month, a German employee of a security company was tried for allegedly transmitting the floor plan of the parliament building to the Russian secret service.
Moscow denies support for such actions.
The current “phishing” cases occur during a particularly tense period between Berlin and Moscow over espionage cases, the poisoning and imprisonment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, and repeated cyberattacks on Western allies.
The West accused the Russian government of poisoning Navalny with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in August 2020, and the Kremlin denied it.
Navalny received treatment in Berlin and returned to Moscow a few months later. After landing at the airport, he was imprisoned, triggering Western demands for his release.
