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Bundestag may need to replace 20,000 computers after the hack

German media states that Bundestag may need to replace 20,000 computers after the recent attack, an operation that could cost millions Euro.

A few days ago the experts the German Government has confirmed that hackers who breached the Bundestag systems a few of weeks ago have also stolen data from targeted network. A spokeswoman for the Bundestag, the Germany’s parliament, confirmed that unknown hackers have stolen data during the cyber attack, the investigators have uncovered several data leaks.

“A spokeswoman for Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, confirmed that hackers had managed to steal data during the cyber attack two weeks ago. She described the detection of several data leaks.” reported the Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Steffi Lemke, a representative of the the Greens party, explained that the discovery of data leaks confirms that “the impact of the cyber attack on the Bundestag is worse than previously thought.”

“This attack reveals the Interior Ministry has completely missed out on establishing a functioning cyber defense,” Lemke said.

The German Government hasn’t disclosed any details on the possible volume of data stolen by the attackers, which seems to have targeted so-called “scattered data outflows” originated from several Government offices. Experts involved in the investigations confirmed that hackers used a malicious code to gain access the internal servers of the Bundestag.

The attack could have serious economic repercussion on the country, according to the experts that are working to restore the operations at the German Bundestag lower house of parliament, the systems are still infected and malware used is still trying to syphon data.

“The trojans are still active,” quoted the Spiegel online edition, highlighting the possible risks in term of security.

The situation could force officials to replace the entire computer system, German media reported that the Government economic losses could reach millions of euros due to the incident. We are not speaking of a couple of servers, but the German Government could be forced to replace more than 20,000 computers.

The daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and German television network ARD confirmed that the entire operation could be time consuming, experts speculate several months, and it could cost several million euros.

According to the Der Spiegel magazine, security experts involved in the investigation on the attack against the Bundestag suspect that the hack was part of a large-scale espionage campaign conducted by Russians state-sponsored hackers.

Parliamentary and security experts close to the Der Spiegel consider “plausible” the scenario.

Stay tuned …

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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – State Sponsored hacking, Bundestag)

Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.