Cybercriminals hacked a messaging app on the phone of German Bundestag President Julia Klöckner, the second-highest ranking German official, according to a report by Der Spiegel.
The magazine reported that Klöckner is among the victims of a recent phishing-style cyberattack targeting the messaging app Signal, amid a broader wave of attacks on European politicians in recent months.
The outlet reported that Klöckner was part of a Signal group chat with members of the executive board of the conservative Christian Democratic Union. Chancellor Friedrich Merz is also part of the group, although German domestic intelligence reportedly found no evidence his phone had been compromised. Der Spiegel also reported that at least one other CDU lawmaker was affected.
The European Commission has recommended since 2020 that officials use Signal for communication not related to work. In early April European cybersecurity and intelligence agencies warned of a phishing campaign in which hackers from Russia posed as a fake Signal support chatbot to trick users into revealing their PIN codes. Germany’s domestic intelligence service had issued a similar warning in February.
POLITICO contacted both the CDU and the Bundestag for comment. The parliament’s administration declined to comment, saying it generally doesn’t provide information on security-critical infrastructure. The CDU didn’t immediately respond.