Attack on email hosting provider for German far right party AfD exposed 345k accounts
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party suffered a significant data breach when its hosting provider was compromised, exposing hundreds of thousands of confidential emails and more than 345,000 unique email addresses. The attack began in early September with a compromised WordPress site, allowing attackers to gain persistent access to the provider's servers and exfiltrate over a terabyte of data. The stolen emails were subsequently published on an activist website with searchable summaries, revealing sensitive party communications and exposing leadership opinions on colleagues.
Key points
- 345,000+ email addresses exposed from political party hosting provider
- Attack started via poorly protected WordPress site compromise
- Over 1 terabyte of data exfiltrated and published by attackers
- Breach disclosed publicly after initial attempts to downplay severity
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