The latest high-profile cyberattack in Germany appears to have targeted the far-right party, and may have exposed a huge number of sensitive messages and private documents.
Hundreds of thousands of emails from Alternative for Germany (AfD) party members’ accounts was allegedly stolen in a hacking attack, according to the AfD.
Unknown individuals have published what they claim to be approximately 421,000 emails belonging to members of the far-right party online.
If authentic, the public exposure of these internal files could leave the party vulnerable to intensified public and legal scrutiny.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has classified several AfD state chapters as “confirmed right-wing extremist,” while senior party figures have well-documented ties to extremist and neo-Nazi networks.
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The authenticity of these emails has not yet been confirmed, but a party spokesman effectively confirmed the incident in comments to Bild.
“In September 2026, a hosting provider of our party was the target of a hacking attack, in which parts of a few email accounts – most of which had not been used for years – were apparently illegally copied,” the AfD said.
The spokesman asserts that the data originates from ten mailboxes, including an account in the name of former AfD party leader Alexander Gauland and an account previously listed by the AfD as a contact for its federal headquarters.
Current email accounts of the AfD’s federal association were reportedly not affected.
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The AfD added that the attack was quickly detected and stopped: “The online publication, presumably of some of this data, is currently being reviewed.”
A report by Bild suggests that AI-generated summaries of several emails were already published online, and that these included messages sent from AfD politicians Alice Weidel, Alexander Gauland and Leif-Erik Holm. Bild notes that an inquiry to the website operators was unanswered.
Also included in the data shared online was a photo of the identity card of Markus Frohnmaier, deputy parliamentary group leader of the AfD in the Bundestag.
As well as photos of other identification documents, invoices, bank statements, certificates, membership applications and membership lists from AfD district associations in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Germany has seen a surge of cyberattacks in recent years, including many aimed at political parties and government agencies. Beside the AfD, Germany’s Left party (Die Linke) and the Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) have also suffered mail server breaches.
This year, in a massive attack on the Berlin Senate Department, hackers were reported to have gained 1.4 million files, and then tried to extort the city government to the tune of 30 bitcoins (or more than two million euros). When Berlin authorities refused to pay, the files were said to have been published on the dark web.
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