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HACKERS HIT
THE GLOBAL INTERNET SCAN

Personal data and documents on hundreds of German politicians and other leaders of the world had
been posted online on Friday 24th March, 2020 bringing the world to a shock. Investigations held by
the authorities mainly the Metropolitan Police of the countries affected concluded that this was the
work of two hackers, a man and a woman both aged 20.

Martina Fitch, The head of the cyber defense department in Germany said politicians at all levels,
including the European, German and state parliaments, appeared to have been affected by hacking
which is the unauthorized access and use of network or stand- alone computer systems to steal or
damage data and programs. Fitch also added that the hackers reportedly recorded online bank
account details, passwords, credit card numbers and copied passwords for social networking sites. The
hackers were then able to steal cash from the bank accounts of many world leaders with the
information accessed and also steal personal details and data from their social networks.

The hack was one of the largest data breaches in history that infected thousands of computers.
When questioned about how this came about the police said “ a sophisticated malicious computer
program”. In addition the investigation done mainly by the Metropolitan Police revealed that the
hackers used a Trojan which is a type of malware or malicious software that is often disguised as
legitimate software which allowed them to conduct their cyber security breaches.
 When the investigation concluded, the police were able to trace back the activities of the
hackers with the help of the cyber defense unit of Germany and was able to bring both Ragnor Matt
and Alisa Matt into custody for computer fraud which is the use of computers, the Internet, Internet
devices, and Internet services to defraud people or organizations of resources and hacking. In
addition, The head of cyber security defense said that the hackers would also be faced with the
consequences of violation the 1990 Computer Misuse Act which is key piece of legislation that
criminalizes the act of accessing or modifying data stored on a computer system without appropriate
consent or permission and 2006 Fraud Act which is an act to make provision for, and in connection
with, criminal liability for fraud and obtaining services dishonestly.

“The arrest represented a considerable breakthrough in our increasing efforts to combat online
criminality” Martin William, The head of the Metropolitan Police Force of Germany said. The hackers
were granted bail until March 2010 and on the 27TH of April, 2010, both Ragnor Matt and Alisa Matt
were sentenced to jail for 10 years.