‘German parliament has not been able to remove malware for a month’

After four weeks, the German Bundestag is still struggling with the consequences of an attack on its network and will not be able to remove malware such as Trojan horses. That’s what Der Spiegel claims. Systems may need to be upgraded not only with new software, but also with different hardware.

The Trojans would still be active a month after the discovery of the attack on the network of the German parliament, several sources told Der Spiegel. Parliamentary circles would already speak of ‘total damage’ and a complete reinstallation may not be sufficient, but hardware must also be renewed to really be rid of all malware traces.

Some of the parliament’s traffic would already be diverted through the government’s network. That network would be more secure. On Thursday, a special committee of the Bundestag will decide how the ‘Parlakom’ network can be rebuilt. Then the decision must also be made whether government espionage experts will be called in for further investigation and protection. This is politically sensitive in Germany: some parties object to giving access to their systems.

Der Spiegel sources previously said there are indications that Russian hackers are behind the attack. It is not yet clear whether systems containing sensitive information have been affected.