Technology
German authorities have identified Angela Merkel’s hacker
Just when cyber-espionage was doing so much to turn the image of lone hoodie-wearing hackers around!
German authorities have discovered the identity of the hacker that breached the accounts of hundreds of politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, and other public figures, the New York Times reports.
The culprit? A 20-year-old malcontent; a student, still in high school (which is not uncommon for 20 year olds in Germany), who lives with his parents.
The young man admitted to the breach, and said it was motivated by frustration with the government. His identification has put to rest fears that a foreign power was behind the attack.
Over the last month, the personal data of rappers, vloggers, journalists, and finally politicians began appearing online. That included contact information, private communications, and more. The release gained widespread attention on January 3, after a popular YouTube account was hacked to spread the information.
The hacker stole and published the data from members of five of the six German political parties with seats in parliament — all except the group farthest to the right. German officials did not comment on the hacker’s political views.
Despite compromising the security of the highest powered officials in the land, the hacker likely won’t face much jail time. After initially arresting him, authorities determined he wasn’t a flight risk and released him. And because he is under 21 — still a legal minor in Germany — the Wall Street Journal reports that he probably won’t be punished with the up to three years in prison he might have faced had he been a legal adult.
Authorities did determine that the hacker acted alone. The discovery is notable because it shows that the German attacks did not come from a malicious coordinated state effort, as Germany and the United States both experienced in 2016.
Instead, the hacker appears to be just that — a hacker. We hope his parents kept his basement warm for him.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,
document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1453039084979896’);
if (window._geo == ‘GB’) {
fbq(‘init’, ‘322220058389212’);
}
if (window.mashKit) {
mashKit.gdpr.trackerFactory(function() {
fbq(‘track’, “PageView”);
}).render();
}
-
Business7 days ago
DOJ’s Apple antitrust case neatly aligns with EU on one key point: NFC and mobile payments
-
Business6 days ago
Lordstown Motors’ ousted CEO settles with SEC for misleading investors
-
Business5 days ago
Apple sued, Microsoft’s AI ambitions and Nvidia’s surprises
-
Business4 days ago
TechCrunch Mobility: The wheels are starting to come off the Fisker EV bus
-
Entertainment3 days ago
Amazon Big Spring Sale 2024: Shop 350+ deals on Apple, robot vacuums, security cameras, more
-
Business3 days ago
Maju Kuruvilla is out as CEO of one-click checkout company Bolt
-
Entertainment5 days ago
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale 2024: Shop 340+ deals on Apple, robot vacuums, security cameras, more
-
Entertainment3 days ago
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024): The MacBook Pro of gaming laptops