(de-news.net) – The CDU has fallen victim to a cyber attack one week before the European elections. The Federal Ministry of the Interior has announced that the CDU’s network has been affected. Both the German police and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution are involved in defense and reconnaissance. Protective measures against digital and hybrid threats have been ramped up. The nature of the hacker attack suggests that the actor is a very professional one, a spokesman added. Further details are not yet known. In 2023, the SPD had already fallen victim to a cyber attack. Emails were hacked.

Last year, cyber attacks on companies and institutions in Germany rose sharply, as can be read in the ‘Federal Cybercrime Situation Report.’ There was a slight decline in attacks in which the act of hacking was carried out from within Germany, while the so-called foreign crimes in which damage was caused increased by 28 percent, from 2022 to 2023. The threat primarily consisted of ransomware extortions, but there were also cases in which data was intercepted. The clearance rate is high and has increased, said Federal Minister Faeser (SPD), BKA President Münch, as well as BSI President Plattner in Berlin in mid-May. However, it can be assumed that there is a number of unreported cases.

Together with France and Poland, an early warning system against false reports on the Internet is to be established, the Foreign Office announced. The mechanism is intended to protect against information manipulation and foreign influence in the democratic processes. The Federal Government wants to create new instruments to improve defense and options for action in the event of cyber attacks. Faeser is committed, among other things, to storing IP addresses. The coalition partner FDP, however, prefers a different model.

In March, the Bundestag passed the Digital Services Act, which is intended to protect against illegal content from the Internet. This is not only aimed at hate speech and false reports, but also at manipulations that can be caused by artificial intelligence. The Federal Network Agency is responsible for the monitoring of this and will also work with European partners.

Also in March, German investigators shut down an illegal online marketplace with 150,000 registered users. Server infrastructure was confiscated. The respective marketplace was primarily used to trade drugs and stolen data.