Former BND deputy president Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven-now 69-has named himself among the victims of a cyber‑attack that targeted users of the encrypted messenger app Signal. In an interview with “Der Spiegel” he explained that an impostor posing as Signal support had contacted him and demanded his PIN. Believing the message was legitimate, he supplied the requested information.
The security agency in Germany classified the global attack as “security‑relevant” in February. It is aimed particularly at public officials, military personnel and journalists, and a number of senior German politicians have reported being targeted as well.
Dutch intelligence services are convinced that Russian state actors are behind the operation. Their alleged approach involves taking over victims’ Signal accounts, harvesting the contacts stored within those accounts and then sending messages on the users’ behalf. Reports say the attackers appeared to have lured Loringhoven’s contacts through a link that directed them to a website posing as his personal page.
Freytag said he immediately warned all of his contacts and deleted his own Signal account. He noted that the incident demonstrates that “Russian state actors continue to pursue their offensive hybrid campaigns unabated”. He has previously discussed Russian cyber threats in his book “Putin’s Attack on Germany”.
