Cyber attack on German parliament still active, could cost millions

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://one.trust.org/item/20150610185453-5py8e

A cyber attack on the German Bundestag lower house of parliament reported
last month is still stealing data and could force officials to spend
millions of euros replacing the entire computer system, German media
reported on Wednesday.

The online edition of news magazine Der Spiegel also quoted what it said
were experts from an internal investigation saying there were indications
that a Russian intelligence agency had staged the attack.

A spokesperson for the Bundestag could not be reached for comment and there
was no immediate response from Moscow. Parliamentary and security sources
in Berlin told Reuters that the reports were "plausible".

Replacing more than 20,000 new computers could cost several million euros
and take months, the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and German television
network ARD reported.

The media reports said that the hackers were still receiving data from the
Bundestag computers.

"The trojans are still active," the Spiegel online edition quoted a
parliamentary source as saying, referring to "trojan" attacks where users
are tricked into installing software that can steal data from their
computers.

A parliamentary spokeswoman announced in May that unknown hackers had tried
to get into the data network.

In January, German government websites, including Chancellor Angela
Merkel's page, were hacked in an attack claimed by a group demanding Berlin
end support for the Ukrainian government, shortly before their leaders were
to meet.

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