Tagesschau Inland1 hour agoPolitics1 min readGermany

AfD confirms hacker attack on email accounts

It is believed that around 421,000 emails were published on the Internet. Party speaks of unused mailboxes.

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Data from email accounts was allegedly stolen in a hacker attack on an AfD hosting service provider.
Unknown people allegedly published around 421,000 emails as well as ID photos and bank statements on the Internet.
The authenticity is checked.

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Why It Matters

Unknown hackers stole data from an AfD hosting service provider and published it on the Internet.

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According to the AfD, data from the party's email accounts was allegedly stolen in a hacker attack.

"In September 2026 there was a hacker attack on one of our party's hosting service providers, in which parts of a few mailboxes - most of which had not been used for years - were apparently illegally copied," said the AfD upon request. The Bild newspaper had previously reported. Current email inboxes of the AfD federal association were not affected.

According to their own statements, unknown persons published data on the Internet, which is said to be around 421,000 AfD emails. Whether these are authentic or not is unclear.

Allegedly stolen ID photos and bank statements

A link to a website is circulating on the Internet that is said to contain an overview of the alleged AfD emails. According to research by the dpa news agency, the anonymous site was only registered in mid-October. It does not provide any information about the origin of the data and does not publish any email content. These are supposedly on another download server.

The unknown persons claim that it concerns data from ten mailboxes, including an account in the name of the former AfD party leader Alexander Gauland and an account that was previously named by the AfD as a contact for the federal office. According to Bild, the senders of the emails include the AfD politicians Alice Weidel and Leif-Erik Holm.

According to the Bild newspaper, the emails contain, among other things, a photo of the ID card of the AfD deputy parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Markus Frohnmaier. In addition, photos of other ID cards, invoices, bank statements, certificates as well as membership applications and membership lists from AfD district associations in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The AfD said the attack was quickly recognized and stopped. All users were informed accordingly. “The online publication of probably part of this data is being examined,” it said. An initial assessment can only be made after this test has been completed.

What to Watch

AI outlook — possibilities, not facts

Verification of the authenticity of the published data by the AfD
Very likely · Within days

Open Questions

Are the published emails and documents authentic?
Who is behind the hacker attack?