An estimated 16 million email users in Germany have had their passwords and other information stolen by hackers.
Germany’s Federal Office for Online Security (BSI) has announced that roughly 16 million email users in the country have had their passwords and other information compromised by a massive and widespread hack. Details of the breach weren’t revealed but the agency said the hackers had managed to infect computers with a trojan that gave them access to the information.
Because the investigation is ongoing, the BSI wouldn’t say how the hack was detected or pursued, but roughly half of the email addresses affected are in the .de domain and the majority of users appear to be in Germany, suggesting that the country was specifically targeted. Given that it has a population of 80 million, the hack impacts the equivalent of one-fifth of the total German population.
Shortly after the hack was revealed, the BSI set up a website to allow German citizens to check on whether their information had been compromised. Unfortunately for many nervous internet users, so many people tried to access the site at one time it crashed, although it appears to be back online for now.
Source: The Local
Published: Jan 21, 2014 11:45 pm