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Berlin (dpa) - Several members of the Bundestag and Landtag have been the target of cyber attacks in the past few days - presumably from Russia.
Corresponding reports from the WDR and the news magazine "Der Spiegel" were confirmed by two experts to the German Press Agency on Friday.
However, the attack cannot be compared with the large-scale hacker attack on the Bundestag in 2015.
The attacks primarily targeted parliamentarians' private email accounts.
"These are the easier goals compared to the Bundestag IT," said an expert.
It was initially unclear whether data actually leaked during the attack.
Der Spiegel reported that the majority of the politicians attacked belonged to the governing parties CDU / CSU and SPD.
In addition, 31 members of the state parliament are also affected.
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In a letter from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) about possible targets of the attack in the Bundestag, the two authorities warn «that your business and / or private email address could be the focus of a targeted phishing campaign ».
The letter has been submitted to the German Press Agency.
Phishing is the attempt to obtain personal data via e-mails or websites in order to be able to use someone else's identity.
"The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is assuming an intelligence service background," it continues.
It is assumed that the data should then be used for further activities, for example “to access your user accounts on social networks or to spread false reports”.
A spokesman for the Bundestag said that, according to the information available so far, there had been no direct attack on the parliament's infrastructure.
“The administration of the German Bundestag was promptly informed of the facts by the competent government authorities.
All the MPs concerned were informed of the attack and the corresponding measures by both the security forces and the administration of the German Bundestag. "
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The largest cyber attack to date against the Bundestag became known in May 2015.
Computers in numerous parliamentary offices had been infected with spy software, including computers in the Bundestag office of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).
The attack resulted in Parliament's IT system subsequently having to be overhauled.
At the time, the German government was convinced that Russian hackers had attacked the Bundestag.
The current attack is attributed to the experts of the Russian hacker group "Ghostwriter".
The Russian secret service GRU is said to be behind these IT mercenaries.
However, experts repeatedly point out that hacker attacks can lead to false traces in order to blame uninvolved groups for the crimes.
After the hacking attack in 2015, Russia vehemently denied any involvement.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210326-99-988223 / 2
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Report "Der Spiegel"
Report ARD