AfD Faces Data Probe After Hack Exposes 8,700 Donors’ Details
(MENAFN) Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is under a data protection investigation after hackers leaked personal details of thousands of its donors, local media reported Wednesday.
The breach covered roughly 280 gigabytes of internal data, among them about 420,000 emails and 50,000 documents. The material was stolen from an AfD hosting provider in September and published in October.
A German daily newspaper reported that the leak exposed records of about 8,700 supporters who gave small donations of up to €150 ($167).
The party had kept automated PayPal notifications and emailed bank statements instead of deleting them once they were no longer needed for reporting purposes. Those files contained donors’ names, bank details, email addresses and home addresses.
Authorities are now probing whether the AfD broke Germany’s data protection rules by failing to erase personal data on smaller donations after the reporting requirement was met, the newspaper said. Investigators are also assessing whether the party put adequate technical and organizational safeguards in place to prevent the incident.
German law obliges companies, authorities and parties to maintain an especially high standard of protection for sensitive data. Organizations must take every necessary step, including encryption, logging and access restrictions, to make leaks as unlikely as possible.
Most violations can carry fines of up to €10 million ($11.16 million). For particularly serious breaches, the maximum climbs to €20 million ($22.32 million).
The breach covered roughly 280 gigabytes of internal data, among them about 420,000 emails and 50,000 documents. The material was stolen from an AfD hosting provider in September and published in October.
A German daily newspaper reported that the leak exposed records of about 8,700 supporters who gave small donations of up to €150 ($167).
The party had kept automated PayPal notifications and emailed bank statements instead of deleting them once they were no longer needed for reporting purposes. Those files contained donors’ names, bank details, email addresses and home addresses.
Authorities are now probing whether the AfD broke Germany’s data protection rules by failing to erase personal data on smaller donations after the reporting requirement was met, the newspaper said. Investigators are also assessing whether the party put adequate technical and organizational safeguards in place to prevent the incident.
German law obliges companies, authorities and parties to maintain an especially high standard of protection for sensitive data. Organizations must take every necessary step, including encryption, logging and access restrictions, to make leaks as unlikely as possible.
Most violations can carry fines of up to €10 million ($11.16 million). For particularly serious breaches, the maximum climbs to €20 million ($22.32 million).
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