German Left party parliamentary group targeted in cyberattack

Members of the opposition Left Party faction in the German parliament Bundestag have been targeted by a massive attack on their email accounts, according to a media report on Monday.

The accounts were flooded with thousands of emails, rendering them unusable, German Press Agency (dpa) reported, citing parliamentary sources.

The incident has been described as a "spam-bombing" attack.

Reports indicate that the emails originated from various senders, featured different subject lines, and were written in several different languages.

Only members of the Left Party were affected.

The Bundestag’s broader email system experienced only minor delays, as its servers possess sufficient capacity. The affected lawmakers have since received instructions on how to filter out the influx of emails.

The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has been brought in to assist.

According to the information provided, this cyberattack is unrelated to the potential use of spyware targeting the iPhones of government officials and members of parliament—a threat about which Apple had previously issued a warning.​​​​​​​