Angela Merkel cites 'hard evidence' she was target of Russian hacking

German Chancellor Angela Merkel informed Parliament that she has been the target of Russian hackers - CHRISTIAN MARQUARDT/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/SHUTTERSTOCK
German Chancellor Angela Merkel informed Parliament that she has been the target of Russian hackers – CHRISTIAN MARQUARDT/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/SHUTTERSTOCK

German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced frustration that Russia was targeting her in hacking action, saying she had concrete proof of the “outrageous” spying attempts.

“I can honestly say that it pains me. Every day I try to build a better relationship with Russia and on the other hand there is such hard evidence that Russian forces are doing this,” she told parliament.

It follows reports in Der Spiegel magazine claiming Russia’s GRU military intelligence service appears to have obtained many emails from Mrs Merkel’s constituency office in a 2015 hack attack on Germany’s parliament. The magazine did not cite its sources.

A spokesman for the German government had no immediate comment. There was also no immediate comment from Moscow, which has denied previous allegations of hacking abroad.

Der Spiegel claimed federal criminal police and the federal cyber agency had been able to partially reconstruct the attack and found that two email inboxes from Mrs Merkel’s office had been targeted. 

This is a breaking story, more to follow

source: yahoo.com