Millions of Germans stolen again e-mail addresses and passwords

Hackers have again stolen combinations of email addresses and passwords from German internet users. A total of 18 million data is said to have been stolen, after 16 million combinations of email addresses and passwords were also stolen in January.

This is apparent from information that Der Spiegel has obtained from the German authorities. Hackers allegedly managed to steal the data from several German internet providers. This would concern current data, which means that the data is already being misused, according to the Germans. It is still unclear how the hackers got the data.

It is not the first time such a major theft of email addresses and associated passwords has taken place. Millions of data were also stolen in January; with 16 million email addresses and passwords, the loot was slightly smaller then. At the time, the German Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik set up a website on which potential victims could check whether their data had been stolen.

According to the information available to Der Spiegel, the two thefts are related. The attackers were previously traced to the Baltic states, but it is not yet clear who is behind the theft. The BSI also plans to inform the victims of the most recent theft.