Hackers have exposed personal data of more than 100 German politicians from all parties in the country's parliament except the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), according to the ARD national public broadcaster. The identity of the hackers remains unknown, as does their motive.
Germany's Bild newspaper, in turn, cited sources in the BSI, the country's state security agency, as saying that the German government's secure internal network was not compromised in the hacking incident.
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Bild also reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier could have been affected by the hacking attack.
The leak targeted cross-party politicians, including those from the CDU, CSU, SPD, Green, FDP and Linke parties, as well as celebrities, such as rapper Sido and actor Til Schweiger. Some German YouTube bloggers and journalists were also affected.
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Home addresses, cell phone numbers, credit and ID cards, private chats between family members, job applications, party memos and lists of party members were leaked; some of the documents are over a year old.
Earlier, a spokesperson for the left-wing Left (Linke) Party's parliamentary group confirmed that the organisation had been affected by the leak.
"I can confirm that there has been an incident," the spokesperson said, adding that Dietmar Bartsch, leader of the Linke group in the German parliament's lower house, was personally targeted.