SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Hackers steal police data from customs servers

The security of German government computer systems has come into question after hackers broke into the Customs Administration’s servers and stole data on Thursday night.

Hackers steal police data from customs servers
Photo: A screenshot of the hackers' site

The Interior Ministry announced on Friday that a group calling itself the

“No Name Crew” penetrated at least one customs server, stole data and published it on the internet at their website.

Among the data was information from the federal police that had been provided to customs. Authorities are now examining the accuracy and sensitivity of the data published.

“In addition, we are checking whether an attack of this type would also have been been possible on our (the police’s) data and whether further security measures are necessary,” the police spokeswoman said.

She stressed that “no operational data from the federal police or the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation were published.”

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said the group had initially announced Thursday night it was attacking the service of the Federal Police. This server was subsequently shut down by police. Shortly before midnight, information was posted on the internet that came from a Customs server.

Customs, federal police and the Federal Office for Information Security all examined the data.

There have been conflicting statements regarding the scale of the damage. The federal police said police data had been made available to customs through the geographic information system, “Patras.”

The No Name Crew claimed that “all data from some servers of the federal police” had been published.

Federal police said the Patras server was shut down and users warned.

The No Name Crew had previously hacked the servers of the far-right National Democratic Party and published sensitive information including a list of its donors.

DPA/The Local/djw

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CRIME

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

A 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy.

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement.

Matthias Ecke, 41, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to police.

Ecke was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy.

“We must never accept such acts of violence,” he said.

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s European election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police said a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been “punched” and “kicked” earlier in the evening on the same Dresden street.

Last week two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and another was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators in her car in the east of the country.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

A group of activists against the far right has called for demonstrations against the attack on Ecke in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday, Der Spiegel magazine said.

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is planning to call a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.

SHOW COMMENTS