Hackers hit AfD: Unknown group posts what it says are 421,000 party emails
Germany's AfD confirmed a September attack on a hosting provider. Some 421,000 emails from 10 mailboxes, including one in Gauland's name, have allegedly been posted online. Authenticity is unclear.
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The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has confirmed a hacking attack on party email accounts. "In September 2026, there was a hacker attack on a hosting service provider of our party," it told the German news agency dpa. Parts of some mailboxes were copied without authorization, most of them unused for years, the party said, adding that current mailboxes of its federal organization were not affected. Bild first reported the breach.
Unknown individuals have since posted data online that they say contains about 421,000 AfD emails from 10 mailboxes, including an account in the name of former party leader Alexander Gauland and one the party once listed as a contact for its federal office. Whether the emails are genuine is unclear; dpa could not independently verify them. The anonymous website was registered only in mid-October, dpa reported.
The AfD said it detected and stopped the attack quickly. "The online publication, presumably of part of this data, is being examined," the party said. It did not say which politicians were affected.