German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports data breach
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Germany's national statistics agency (Destatis) reports a suspected data breach affecting their IDEV data-sharing system. The incident is significant given that the head of Destatis, Ruth Brand, serves as the national elections coordinator, with Germany preparing for a snap general election in February.
Pro-Russian hackers from Indonesia allegedly targeted the IDEV platform. Approximately 3.8 gigabytes of data is reportedly stolen and being offered for sale on dark web forums. The IDEV portal was taken offline as a precautionary measure. Exposed data types include:
- Business names
- Business addresses
- Login credentials for IDEV portal accounts
- Other business-related information submitted through the portal
The number of affected businesses and the nature of the attack have not been publicly disclosed.
The Federal Office for Information Security has been engaged to investigate the incident. The breach takes place in a context of increased cyber threats against German institutions, particularly from Russia-aligned actors. German intelligence has previously warned about Moscow's attempts to conduct cyber attacks and spread disinformation.
