The bridge was due to his connection with Merkel: there they were looking for the exploit. photo EFE
The European Central Bank reported on Tuesday that there has been an attempt to do so hack on the phone of its president, Cristina Lagarde, but no information was compromised. The transition would have occurred through the link between the former director of the IMF and the former German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The attempt came “recently,” the central bank said for the 19 countries that use the euro in an email response to a question about a Business Insider report.
The Frankfurt-based bank added that the cyber attack “He was immediately identified and arrested.”but he had nothing more to say because of the ongoing investigation.
Business Insider reported, without citing the sources, that Lagarde was contacted via text message from what appeared to be former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone number by someone who claimed Merkel wanted to communicate with her on WhatsApp because it would be more. safe.
The publication stated that Lagarde had then contacted Merkel by phone to ask her if she really wanted to communicate on WhatsApp and that whoever was behind the attempt apparently aimed to gain control of the accounts of various prominent figures on WhatsApp and other messaging services.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that hackers posing as Merkel sent a message to Lagarde asking her to reveal an authentication code that would allow them to open a whatsapp account linked to the telephone number of the head of the ECB.
There has been no official confirmation in this regard, so the suspicions could not be confirmed.
How did they try to hack it?
Ivanka Trump (l), Angela Merkel (d) and then IMF director Christine Lagarde in 2017. Photo EFE
In a letter dated July 4 and seen by the Reuters news agency, the German national intelligence agency and the Federal Office for Information Security warned German lawmakers that such a plan was underwaybut without naming any of the targets.
“In particular, the attackers exploit the relationship of trust that exists between two high-ranking political figures,” he said, referring to a “social engineering campaign”.
Although the tactic is not new, German authorities say this scheme is unique in that it uses the spoils of high-ranking politicians.
“Data subjects who pass authentication data to attackers lose control of the corresponding messaging account. Attackers can then use this account, for exampleto attack other people, “warns the letter.
According to the report, this scheme typically asks cell phone users to pass SMS to WhatsApp, but also to Signal or Telegram, which are marketed as securely encrypted apps.
Cyber security incidents are becoming more and more common not only among companies, but also across governments. The measures countries take to curb attacks are often not enough, as the black market for vulnerabilities pays huge rewards.
Source: Clarin
