Overview
- Government sources on Saturday said Russian state-linked actors are likely behind a coordinated push to hijack Signal accounts of high‑value targets.
- Security services said they have alerted identified victims and cut off further data leaving compromised devices, while warning more cases may surface.
- Reports say at least 300 political accounts were targeted, with Education Minister Karin Prien, Housing Minister Verena Hubertz, and Bundestag President Julia Klöckner among those named as compromised.
- Attackers pose as “Signal Support” and trick users into entering a PIN or scanning a QR code to link an attacker’s device, which can read roughly the past 45 days of chats and impersonate the user in groups.
- Prosecutors opened an espionage investigation in February, and on Monday lawmakers called for tighter rules on official messaging and possible shifts to alternative apps.