Russia suspected of targeting senior officials in major cyberattacks

• Germany suspects Russia is responsible for a series of phishing attacks targeting Signal accounts of high-ranking politicians, including two government ministers, military personnel, and journalists.
• Federal prosecutors initiated a preliminary investigation into the alleged cyberattacks in mid-February 2026, including an initial suspicion of espionage.
• Around 300 Signal accounts were reportedly compromised, with victims tricked by fake security chatbot messages into linking their accounts to hacker-controlled devices.
• This allowed attackers to access past and ongoing chats, address books, and other data stored by the users.
• Dutch intelligence services also issued a warning about a large-scale global cyber campaign by Russian state hackers targeting dignitaries and government employees on Signal and WhatsApp.

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Germany accuses Russia of targeting top politicians in Signal phishing attack