Pro-Russian Hacker Group Breaches German Federal Statistical Office: "Data Leak Causes Network Shutdown"

Partial Network Shutdown Due to Hacking Attack
"Suspected Action by Russian Hacker Group"

The German Federal Statistical Office has been subjected to a hacking attack, leading to the shutdown of some of its computer networks.

According to major German media, on the 16th (local time), the German Federal Statistical Office was attacked by hackers. Currently, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is investigating the situation, and until further notice, access to various basic data collection and the survey platform IDEV (Internet Data Collection Statistical Network) will be blocked.

Asia Economy DB

Concerns have arisen locally as the hacking occurred three months before the early federal parliamentary election. This is because the head of the Federal Statistical Office also serves as the chairman of the election commission, and the Statistical Office manages nationwide election-related data. Some suspect Russian involvement.

The daily Neue Z?rcher Zeitung (NZZ) reported that a pro-Russian hacker group stole 3.8GB of data from the German Federal Statistical Office and is selling it on the darknet (a closed distributed P2P network).

The German government acknowledged that Statistical Office data is circulating on the darknet but claimed that "the computer networks of the Statistical Office and the election commission are separate," asserting that there is no impact on election preparations.

Russia is suspected of employing hybrid tactics involving hacking and infrastructure arson sabotage to block the West, which supports Ukraine. In fact, in February, the contents of a video conference involving senior German military officers were leaked and published by Russian media.