The federal chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW). Photo: Hannes P. Albert/dpa
According to its own information, “Spiegel” has an explosive list of data from donors and interested parties to the BSW. Apparently unauthorized persons had access to the information. The party reacts.
Berlin – A data leak at the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) has given unauthorized persons access to information on thousands of donors and subscribers to a newsletter. A party spokeswoman confirmed a corresponding report from “Spiegel” on Thursday. Up to 35,000 people are affected, including 5,000 donors and 30,000 newsletter subscribers.
The “Spiegel” referred to a list that the paper itself had available. This includes payments from donors to the BSW that were entered using a form on the BSW website by January 13, 2024. It includes names, email addresses and whether the donation was more or less than 500 euros. For donations below this limit, exact amounts are usually noted. Newsletter subscribers are concerned with email addresses.
The BSW party spokeswoman made it clear that the data set available to “Spiegel” did not contain any other personal data, including any account details. These are contact persons for the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht association, which was founded in October. According to current knowledge, the donor data of the BSW party, which was formed in January, is not affected. The public prosecutor’s office and the responsible data protection authority were informed immediately. The club also contacted its service providers and had security measures checked, the spokeswoman explained.
Data protection officer announces conversation
The responsible state data protection officer for Baden-Württemberg, Tobias Keber, confirmed to the dpa that there was a so-called data breach report regarding violations of the protection of personal data. “In principle, information about political opinions or affiliation with a party is very sensitive data (…) that must be particularly protected,” explained Keber when asked. “A corresponding data breach in this area should be taken very seriously. We will talk to the association as the person responsible for data protection and clarify the matter.”
First of all, it is important that any gap is closed immediately and security measures are taken to ensure that such an incident does not happen again. If the risk is high, the people affected should be informed about the incident, Keber explained. The BSW association was founded in Mannheim in September, and for a time there was an address in Karlsruhe in the imprint. Both cities are in Baden-Württemberg.