She did not fall into the trap.
But the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, was the target of hackers who managed to usurp the identity of Angela Merkel.
Using what appears to be the former German chancellor's authentic phone number, the hackers contacted the former IMF president via text message.
They asked for an exchange between them to be initiated on WhatsApp instant messaging so that Christine Lagarde delivers her authentication codes.
The message cited computer problems.
The goal was to take over his email account in order to gather information and use his identity to contact other public figures.
According to an ECB spokesperson,
“The attack was quickly spotted and stopped.
No data was stolen.”
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Out of mistrust, the President of the ECB preferred to call Angela Merkel to ask her if she really wanted to communicate through this channel.
That's how she found out about the attempted cyberattack.
This case follows a wave of similar attacks on WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram, which has been raging for a few days.
“The hackers specifically exploit the relationship of trust between two high-ranking political figures
,” according to a letter from the German authorities addressed to Parliament.
An investigation has been opened by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution to understand how the number of the ex-chancellor could have been stolen by the criminals.
