The Bundestag, the lower house of the German congress, conducted a secret penetration test (pen test) against members of parliament by sending phishing emails that supposedly came from the Bundestag administration. While many MPs and their staff members passed the test, Spiegel (machine translated) says that several fell for the faked email and disclosed sensitive information like usernames and passwords.
All representatives and their staff eventually received a letter explaining the penetration test, saying, “This is absolutely necessary for an effective defense against real phishing campaigns.” However, it also added, “I would like to ask all those who have clicked on the links in the e-mails and, if necessary, entered login credentials and passwords to change their password as a precautionary measure.”
