Millions of passwords and email details stolen in Germany

BBC News, 21 January 2014

It is estimated that 16 million email users are affected

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The passwords and other details of 16 million email users in Germany have been stolen, the country's security agency has revealed.

The Federal Office for Security said criminals had infected computers with software which allowed them to gather email addresses and account passwords.

The agency has not commented on what progress it has made in tracking down the hackers.

It has set up a website for people to check whether they have been victims.

The agency learnt that the online criminals had managed to infect millions of computers with a program that would enrol them on to a network from where data could be stolen.

The scale of the attack is the equivalent of almost a fifth of the German population being at risk.