Germany Probes Phishing of 300 Signal Accounts

German authorities are investigating a phishing campaign that compromised around 300 Signal messaging accounts belonging to high-profile politicians, ministers, military personnel, diplomats and journalists, with officials suspecting Russian involvement.

The attacks, which federal prosecutors began probing in mid-February 2026 on suspicions of espionage, exploited user trust rather than any flaws in Signal's encryption or infrastructure. Attackers impersonated Signal Support through fake messages, prompting victims to enter personal identification numbers, share authentication codes, scan malicious QR codes or click links. Successful scams allowed perpetrators to link victims' accounts to external devices, granting access to private chats, contact lists, group conversations and shared files. Victims could then be impersonated to target their networks.

Signal confirmed no breach of its systems occurred. "Our encryption, infrastructure, and the integrity of the apps code was not compromised," the nonprofit Signal Technology Foundation stated. The company attributed the incidents to social engineering and announced upcoming platform changes to deter such attacks. It urged users to...