After another wave of cyber attacks on German politicians, the German government complained to the Russian government.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office said on Monday in Berlin: “The German government urges the Russian government to stop these illegal cyber activities with immediate effect.” State Secretary Miguel Berger also said this at a meeting of the High Working Group on Security Policy last week addressed directly to a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The security authorities have informed the Bundestag at least three times this year about cyber attacks by foreign intelligence services on parliamentarians.

Most recently, several members of the Union and the SPD are said to have been affected.

In a letter dated June 24, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) announced: "In view of the upcoming federal election in 2021, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is currently observing that intelligence service attacks against party members are intensifying." often against private and business e-mail addresses of MPs. Foreign intelligence services could then use the access gained through this "to publish personal and intimate information or fabricated false news on your behalf," warned the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the BSI.

The Russian hacker group "ghostwriters" is suspected to be behind phishing attacks in which attempts were made to gain access to the private accounts of parliamentarians.

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 government has reliable knowledge on the basis of which the" ghostwriter "activities, cyber actors of the Russian state and specifically the Russian military intelligence service GRU can be assigned," said the spokeswoman for the Foreign Office.

The government regards this “unacceptable approach as a threat to the security of the Federal Republic of Germany and to the democratic decision-making process and as a heavy burden for bilateral relations”.