German Parliament mulls replacing IT system over hack attack

BERLIN (AP) – German lawmakers are mulling whether to replace their entire computer system after a sophisticated hacking attack against Parliament’s IT network.

Parliamentary officials said last month that specialists were working to fix the security problem, but German media reported this week that large amounts of data are still being siphoned out by unknown attackers.

Lawmakers are meeting Thursday to learn more about the extent of the problem and debate measures that would allow Parliament to continue its work.

Opposition parties object to a proposal for Germany’s domestic intelligence and IT security agencies to investigate the problem, saying this could threaten sensitive parliamentary work and breach the division of powers.

Green Party lawmaker Konstantin von Notz told rbb-Inforadio that the sophistication of the attack appears to point to an intelligence operation.