German Federal Prosecutors Investigating Pre-Election Hacking

The German chief prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into attempts by a suspected hacker collective to access the private data of Federal and regional lawmakers, media said Thursday.

Germany blames the phishing campaign on Ghostwriter hackers who they claim are linked to the Russian military intelligence GRU, the Spiegel magazine reported.

The attacks of the past months focused on members of the "grand coalition" conservatives and Social Democrats, the frontrunners in the September 26 election race.

Thomas Haldenwang, the head of the German domestic intelligence, warned in July that stolen data could be used to generate fake news and smear lawmakers.

A Foreign Office spokesperson on accused Russia on Monday of being behind "unacceptable cyberactivities." Russia has repeatedly denied similar charges and invited Western countries to a dialogue on cybersecurity.