"Numerous journalists targeted in attack via Signal Messenger" 28 January 2026

Journalists have increasingly been targeted by a well-known phishing attack on the Signal messenger service in recent days and weeks, according to reporting by netzpolitik.org. Dozens of (investigative) journalists, some of them prominent, at public television stations and several large and small media outlets, including Die Zeit, Correctiv, and netzpolitik.org, have been affected. Furthermore, individual high-profile representatives of civil society, including lawyers, were hit by the attack.

Netzpolitik.org has not yet been able to find any victims of the attack outside of these categories. This suggests a targeted phishing attack on specific phone numbers, but is not proof of such an attack...

...In the campaign, attackers send a Signal message, pretending to be “Signal Support” and claiming that there has been suspicious activity on the mobile phone and an attempt to access private data. For this reason, those affected must go through the Signal verification process again and send the verification code to a “Signal Security Support ChatBot”, the fraudulent messages claim...

...Afterwards, chat groups can be accessed, and the contacts and networks of those affected can be identified. In the case of journalists, for example, this could reveal sources who communicate with journalists in a confidential and encrypted manner. In the case of activists, political networks and contacts could be exposed. In the course of a permanent account takeover, the attacker can also read all communication content accumulated since the takeover...

...A Signal spokesperson told netzpolitik.org: “Signal will never contact you in any way via a two-way chat within the app.”..