BSI warns members of the Bundestag against takeovers of Messenger

According to a report, strangers want to gain access to the user accounts via anonymous calls. That BSI issued a corresponding warning.

According to a report, the Federal Office for Information Security and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution have warned all members of the Bundestag against possible takeovers of their messenger accounts. According to information from “Spiegel Online”, attackers have already tried in the past to gain access to corresponding accounts via calls or SMS.

The caller pretended to be a high-ranking colleague from politics and asked for a confidential conversation via messenger. According to the BSI, the aim of the scam is for those affected to create a new user account, for example with WhatsApp or Telegram.

The perpetrators were aiming for the authentication code required for this registration. Under a pretext, the callers ask for this code, which is supposed to remain completely private. In connection with the already known phone number, it is then possible for the perpetrators to take over the corresponding account. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is aware of the procedure behind this scam.

Motive still unclear

As a result of such a takeover, further attacks become easier and more likely. In this case, the perpetrators already have an apparently trustworthy account with which they can easily gain the trust of other victims.

According to “Spiegel” information, there is nothing to be read in the BSI’s warning about the potential motive of the perpetrators. It is also not known where the perpetrators got the numbers from.

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