Security News

Court Curbs German Spies' Foreign Internet Surveillance
2020-05-19 12:20

Germany's foreign intelligence service violated the constitution by spying on internet data from foreigners abroad, the nation's top court ruled Tuesday in a victory for overseas journalists who brought the case. The BND agency's surveillance violates "The fundamental right to privacy of telecommunications" and freedom of the press, judges at the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said in their verdict.

Russia-Linked Cybercriminals Use Legitimate Tools in Attacks on German Firms
2020-03-20 13:25

Earlier this year, Prevailion's security researchers identified a TA505 campaign targeting German companies with fake job application emails, but the attacks appear to have started in June 2019, or even the month before. Through the use of legitimate tools that are unlikely to be removed by traditional security software, the attackers can perform a broad range of activities, such as stealing files, capturing screens, and even recording audio.

Switzerland Investigating Alleged CIA, German Front Company
2020-02-11 19:34

Swiss authorities said Tuesday they have opened an investigation into allegations a Zug, Switzerland-based maker of encryption devices was a front operated by the CIA and West German intelligence that enabled them to break the codes of the countries that used their products. A joint investigation published Tuesday by Germany's ZDF public broadcaster and The Washington Post based on documents from the CIA and Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency revealed that Crypto AG made millions of dollars for the two agencies, while providing them with access to the encrypted communications of more than 120 countries for decades.

US, German Spies Plundered Global Secrets Via Swiss Encryption Firm: Report
2020-02-11 19:20

US and German intelligence services raked in the top secret communications of governments around the world for decades through their hidden control of a top encryption company, Crypto AG, US, German and Swiss media reported Tuesday. Together they rigged Crypto's equipment to be able to easily break the codes and read the government's messages, according to reports by the Washington Post, German television ZTE and Swiss state media SRF. - 'Coup of the century' -.

Crypto AG backdooring rumours were true, say German and Swiss news orgs after explosive docs leaked
2020-02-11 16:15

Swiss encryption machine company Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA and a West Germany spy agency at the height of the Cold War, according to explosive revelations in Swiss and German media today. Although rumours had swirled for decades around Crypto AG and the backdooring of its products by the West - cough, cough, NSA - and not forgetting careless remarks by former US prez Ronald Reagan, today's publications by Swiss broadcaster SRF and German broadcaster ZDF confirm those old suspicions.

WannaCry ransomware attack on NHS could have triggered NATO reaction, says German cybergeneral
2020-02-03 09:15

Western military alliance NATO could have reacted with force to the 2017 WannaCry ransomware outbreak that locked up half of Britain's NHS, Germany's top cybergeneral has said. During a panel discussion about military computer security, Major General Juergen Setzer, the Bundeswehr's chief information security officer, admitted that NATO's secretary-general had floated the idea of a military response to the software nasty.

WannaCry ransomware attack on NHS could have triggered NATO reaction, says German cybergeneral
2020-02-03 09:15

Western military alliance NATO could have reacted with force to the 2017 WannaCry ransomware outbreak that locked up half of Britain's NHS, Germany's top cybergeneral has said. During a panel discussion about military computer security, Major General Juergen Setzer, the Bundeswehr's chief information security officer, admitted that NATO's secretary-general had floated the idea of a military response to the software nasty.

2020-01-27 18:50

A German privacy watchdog says it has opened an investigation into clothing retailer H&M amid evidence that the Swedish retailer had committed "Massive data protection breaches" by spying on its customer service representatives in Germany. Hamburg's data protection commissioner said in a statement Monday that a hard drive containing about 60 gigabytes of data revealed that superiors at the site in Nuremberg kept "Detailed and systematic" records about employees' health, from bladder weakness to cancer, and about their private lives, such as family disputes or holiday experiences.

GDPR Violation: German Privacy Regulator Fines 1&1 Telecom
2019-12-10 13:48

$11 Million Fine for Authentication Shortcomings at Telecommunications ProviderOne of the largest fines to date for violating the EU's General Data Protection Regulation has been announced by...

GDPR Breach: German Privacy Regulator Fines 1&1 Telecom
2019-12-10 11:33

$11 Million Fine for Authentication Shortcomings at Telecommunications ProviderOne of the largest fines to date for breaching the EU's General Data Protection Regulation has been announced by...