Germany Investigating Data Breach Affecting 18 Million

German government officials have said they are investigating an identity theft affecting as many as 18 million people, making it one of the country’s biggest ever reported data breaches.

The Federal Office for Security in Information Technology said on Friday it was working with email providers to inform as many as 3 million users in Germany.

Epic data breach in Germany

It did not say where the other affected parties were from, adding that it would only be able to directly contact 70 percent of those in Germany whose accounts were breached.

A warning will be published today to assist anyone concerned.

It would appear a widespread malware attack was to blame, as the German body advised worried users to run a tool to search for malicious software.

The Federal Office for Security in Information Technology was told to look into the breach at the bequest of prosecutors in the northern town of Verden and has recommended people follow basic security guidance found here.

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication, while the relevant German body had also not responded.

In a separate incident in January, the German Federal Office for Security warned a malware attack had infected 16 million machines to steal email account logins.

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