all-in-one privacy solution":["Proton Unlimited est une solution tout-en-un respectueuse de la vie privée"],"Black Friday":["Black Friday"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Aucune publicité, le respect de la vie privée comme règle absolue"],"People before profits":["Les individus passent avant les profits"],"Security through transparency":["Notre engagement de transparence"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["Les meilleures offres ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } de Proton Mail"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":[" La seule messagerie au monde soutenue par la communauté"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } heure","${ hours } heures"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["Temps restant : ${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft }, ${ secondsLeft }"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minute","${ minutes } minutes"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } seconde","${ seconds } secondes"],"Limited time offer":["Offre à durée limitée"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Créez plusieurs adresses"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Alias « hide-my-email »"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Désabonnez-vous rapidement des newsletters"],"Use your own domain name":["Utilisez votre propre nom de domaine"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Ils en parlent"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Choisissez une messagerie électronique chiffrée qui protège votre vie privée"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Offre Proton Mail Black Friday - Jusqu'à 40 % de réduction"]},"specialoffer:newmetadescription":{"Get up to 40% off Proton Mail subscriptions this Black Friday. Find great deals on our secure end-to-end encrypted email plans.":["Obtenez jusqu'à 40 % de réduction sur les abonnements Proton Mail à l'occasion du Black Friday. Profitez d'offres exceptionnelles sur nos abonnements de messagerie électronique sécurisée et chiffrée de bout en bout."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Offre Black Friday Proton Mail | Jusqu'à 40 % de réduction"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["* Facturé ${ TOTAL_SUM } pour la première année"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["*Facturé ${ TOTAL_SUM } pour les 2 premières années"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["Garantie satisfait ou remboursé pendant 30 jours"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["Facturé ${ TOTAL_SUM } pour les 2 premières années"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["Facturé ${ TOTAL_SUM } pour la première année"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["Vous économisez ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["-${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["J'adore mon ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Ma messagerie électronique préférée"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Merci Proton de nous garder en sécurité dans l'univers complexe d'internet."],"You get what you pay for. In the case of big tech, if you pay nothing, you get used. I quit using Gmail and switched to @ProtonMail":["Vous avez ce pour quoi vous payez. Avec les Big Tech, si vous ne payez rien, vous êtes utilisé. J'ai arrêté d'utiliser Gmail et je suis passée @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Jours"],"Hours":["Heures"],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["Et aussi"],"Safe from trackers":["À l'abri des traqueurs"],"Stay organized":["Restez organisé(e)"],"Black Friday email deals":["Offres Black Friday pour la messagerie électronique"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Ce qu'en disent nos utilisateurs"],"Make your inbox yours":["Appropriez-vous totalement votre boîte de réception"],"Our story":["Notre histoire"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Transférez vos données depuis Google en un clic"]},"specialoffer:tooltip":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES }+ countries, connect up to 10 devices, access worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accédez aux contenus bloqués et naviguez en toute confidentialité. Comprend plus de ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS } serveurs dans plus de ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES } pays, la possibilité de connecter jusqu'à 10 appareils, l'accès aux services de streaming dans le monde entier, un bloqueur de logiciels malveillants et de publicités et bien plus encore."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Partagez facilement votre calendrier avec votre famille, vos amis ou collègues et consultez des calendriers externes."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Comprend la prise en charge de 1 domaine de messagerie personnalisé, de 10 adresses e-mail, de 10 alias « hide-my-email », du partage de calendriers et bien d'autres fonctionnalités."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Comprend la prise en charge de 3 domaines de messagerie personnalisés, de 15 adresses e-mail, d'un nombre illimité d'alias « hide-my-email », du partage de calendriers et bien d'autres fonctionnalités."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Jusqu'à 25 calendriers, des applications mobiles, la sécurité avec le chiffrement de bout en bout, l'importation de calendrier en un clic depuis Google..."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["Nous rencontrons actuellement des problèmes avec le service Proton VPN."]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["En savoir plus"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["Nous rencontrons actuellement des problèmes avec le service ${ issues[0] }."],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["Nous rencontrons actuellement des problèmes avec un ou plusieurs services."]},"steps":{"Step":["Étape"]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Suggestions"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Sous-catégorie","Sous-catégories"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } minute","${ readingTime } minutes"],"Category":["Catégorie","Catégories"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Vous ne trouvez pas ce que vous cherchez ?"],"General contact":["Contact - Général"],"Get help":["Obtenir de l'aide"],"Legal contact":["Contact - Juridique"],"Media contact":["Contact - Média"],"Partnerships contact":["Contact - Partenariats"],"Reading":["Lecture"]},"Support Form Platform option":{"VPN for Android TV":["VPN pour Android TV"],"VPN for Apple TV":["VPN pour Apple TV"],"VPN for Chromebook":["VPN pour Chromebook"]},"Support troubleshooting":{"App version":["Version de l'application"],"Browser":["Navigateur"],"Check if this helps":["Vérifiez si cela vous aide."],"Choose a product":["Choisir un produit"],"Did this solve your issue?":["Cela a-t-il résolu votre problème ?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away":["Quelques clics suffisent pour obtenir une assistance plus rapide"],"How can we help?":["Comment pouvons-nous vous aider ?"],"No, contact support":["Non, contacter le support"],"Please fill out one field after another":["Veuillez remplir les champs l'un après l'autre"],"Please make your selections":["Veuillez faire vos sélections"],"Proton account":["Compte Proton"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Nous vous remercions pour votre commentaire."],"What can we help with?":["En quoi pouvons-nous vous aider ?"],"Yes":["Oui"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Recherche"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Rechercher"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Je recherche des informations sur..."]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["Pour que le problème soit résolu plus rapidement, vous pouvez le signaler à partir de l'application Bridge : Aide > Signaler un bug."],"Information":["Informations"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Sécurité du compte"],"Contacts":["Contacts"],"Custom email domain":["Domaine de messagerie personnalisé"],"Email delivery and Spam":["Distribution des messages et indésirables/spam"],"Encryption":["Chiffrement"],"Login and password":["Identifiant et mot de passe"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Fusion des alias et des comptes"],"Migrate to Proton":["Migration vers Proton"],"Notifications":["Notifications"],"Other":["Autre"],"Plans and billing":["Abonnements et facturation"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Sign up":["Inscription"],"Storage":["Espace de stockage"],"Users, addresses, and identities":["Utilisateurs, adresses et identités"]},"SupportForm:optionIntro":{"Select a topic":["Choisissez un sujet"]},"Testimonial":{"Awards":["Récompenses"],"Customers":["Clients"],"Featured":["Ils en parlent"],"Go to testimonial source":["Accéder aux commentaires"],"Open source of award":["Voir l'information originale concernant ce prix"],"Open source of quote":["Voir l'information originale concernant cette citation"],"Reviews":["Avis"],"Videos":["Vidéos"],"Watch on TikTok":["Regarder sur TikTok"],"Watch on YouTube":["Regarder sur YouTube"]},"TestimonialCategory":{"Awards":["Récompenses"],"Customers":["Clients"],"Featured":["Ils en parlent"],"Media":["Média"],"Reviews":["Avis"],"Videos":["Des vidéos"]},"Text":{"If you need help, check out our ${ supportLink }.":["Si vous avez besoin d'aide, consultez notre ${ supportLink }."],"The page you’re looking for might have been removed, or it could be an\nold link.":["La page recherchée a peut-être été retirée ou le lien utilisé n'est plus valide."],"Your question may already have an answer in our knowledge base:":["La réponse à votre question se trouve peut-être déjà dans notre base de connaissances :"]},"Title":{"On this page":["Sur cette page"],"Page not found":["Page introuvable"],"Related articles":["Articles similaires"],"Share ${ thisPage }":["Partagez ${ thisPage }"],"Switch to Proton Pass - Contact us":["Passez à Proton Pass - Contactez-nous"],"Thank you!":["Merci !"],"this page":["cette page"]},"tooltip_vpn":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accédez aux contenus bloqués et naviguez en toute confidentialité. Comprend plus de ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS } serveurs dans plus de ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES } pays, la vitesse VPN la plus élevée, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } connexions VPN, l'accès aux services de streaming dans le monde entier, un bloqueur de logiciels malveillants et de publicités et bien plus encore."]},"vpn_servers":{"Get Proton VPN Plus":["Je choisis Proton VPN Plus"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Action":{"Get Proton Wallet":["Obtenir Proton Wallet"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Homepage hero product link title":{"Wallet":["Wallet"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Homepage product navigation bar":{"Wallet":["Wallet"]},"wallet_signup_2024:menu item":{"Bitcoin guide":["Guide de Bitcoin"],"Proton Wallet news":["Actualités Proton Wallet"],"Proton Wallet support":["Support Proton Wallet"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Pricing":{"Includes everything in Proton Unlimited and":["Comprend tout ce qui est inclus dans Proton Unlimited et"],"Limited availability":["Disponibilité limitée"],"The easiest way to securely own, send, and receive Bitcoin":["Le moyen le plus simple et sécurisé pour détenir et échanger des bitcoins"]},"wallet_signup_2024:ProductRange":{"Discover Proton Wallet":["Découvrez Proton Wallet"],"Store and transact Bitcoin privately with an encrypted self-custody wallet.":["Conservez et échangez des bitcoins en toute sécurité grâce à notre portefeuille chiffré en auto-gestion."]},"wallet_signup_2024:wallet bitcoin":{"Learn about Bitcoin, the Internet's value network.":["Découvrez le monde du Bitcoin, le réseau de valeur sur Internet."]},"wallet_signup_2024:wallet overview":{"Ensure you're always in control of your Bitcoin.":["Restez maître de vos bitcoins en toutes circonstances."]},"wallet_signup_2024:wallet security":{"The encrypted, open-source wallet that puts you in control.":["Contrôlez vos bitcoins de A à Z avec notre portefeuille chiffré open source."]}}},"base":"blog","cdn":{"enabledForAssets":true,"enabledForImages":true,"url":"https://pmecdn.protonweb.com/"},"unleashApi":"https://account.proton.me/api"};
window.frameworkContext = frameworkContext;
const context = frameworkContext.base === '' ? '' : `${frameworkContext.base}/`;
window.__toAssetUrl = (filename) => {
if (frameworkContext.cdn !== undefined && frameworkContext.cdn.enabledForAssets === true) {
return `${frameworkContext.cdn.url}${context}${filename}`;
} else {
return `/${context}${filename}`;
}
};
})();
Danish, Dutch, Luxembourgish politicians have details leaked on dark web | Proton
In the latest installment of our investigation with Constella Intelligence(nouvelle fenêtre) into the cybersecurity risks politicians face, we found that 41% of Danish members of parliament have had their official email address exposed on the dark web, one of the highest percentages in the EU. We also looked at the Dutch and Luxembourgish parliaments, which had 18% and 16% of their members’ email addresses exposed, respectively.
The email addresses of Danish, Dutch, and Luxembourgish politicians are available publicly (this is how we found them), so the fact that we found them in dark marketplaces where info is illegally bought and sold isn’t, in itself, a security failure. We’re also not suggesting these parliaments suffered a cyberattack or that this information was stolen. In the vast majority of cases, these official email addresses ended up on the dark web as part of a data breach by a common service provider, like Adobe, Dailymotion, Dropbox, LinkedIn, or news services.
However, these politicians should never have used their official email addresses to create such an account. This makes it easy for attackers to quickly identify politicians’ accounts. Next, they can check if any passwords are associated with these email addresses. Between the Danish, Dutch, and Luxembourgish politicians we looked at, we found 139 passwords in plaintext. That’s potentially 139 compromised accounts — and it could be many more if any of these politicians reused exposed passwords elsewhere.
We explore the Danish, Dutch, and Luxembourgish leaks in greater detail below and explain why politicians must take their cybersecurity seriously.
Politicians’ data exposed
We found much more than just emails and passwords during this investigation. While we’re not sharing any identifying information for obvious reasons, sensitive information like dates of birth, residence addresses, and social media accounts were linked to these politicians’ email addresses. (We also informed every affected politician that they had sensitive data exposed on the internet before publishing this article.)
Attackers can easily buy this information and use it to create convincing phishing campaigns or social engineering attacks.
Number of email addresses searched
Number of breached email addresses
Number of passwords exposed
Number of passwords exposed in plaintext
Danish Parliament
179
74
93
69
Dutch Parliament
225
41
35
32
Luxembourgish Parliament
60
10
43
38
Over 40% of Danish politicians have email addresses leaked
At 41%, Danish politicians have one of the highest rates of email address breaches in Europe. The email addresses of 74 of the 179 members of the Danish parliament appear a total of 555 times on the dark web. One politician had their email address exposed in 25 separate breaches, along with eight passwords exposed in plaintext. This should be a major concern as Danish politicians and infrastructure have been the target of significant cyberattacks.
In June 2024, the Danish Center for Cyber Security(nouvelle fenêtre) raised the threat level for cyberattacks to “Medium”, or three out of five, specifying that this was largely due to the threats from Russia. This follows an attack in May 2023 where the Russian hacker group NoName057(16) took the Danish Parliament’s website offline(nouvelle fenêtre) with a DDoS attack. Immediately after this attack, another hacking group exploited a zero-day vulnerability in un-updated firewalls to attack 22 organizations that operate and oversee Denmark’s energy infrastructure(nouvelle fenêtre) in the largest cyberattack in Denmark’s history. The main suspect is Sandworm (also known as Voodoo Bear and Seashell Blizzard), a hacking group affiliated with Russia’s intelligence service that performed similar attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
The Netherlands’ lower house of parliament has three times as many breaches as the upper house
While Dutch politicians had relatively few email addresses exposed on the dark web overall (18%), there is a major discrepancy between the lower house (Tweede Kamer) and the upper house (Eerste Kamer). We searched for all 150 Tweede Kamer members’ email addresses and found 36 of them, or 24%. Meanwhile, out of the 75 members of the Eerste Kamer, we found the official email addresses for only five, roughly 6.7%. It’s the second largest disparity between houses we’ve seen in our investigation — only France has a higher one. There, 8.8% of the National Assembly had their email address exposed compared to 33% of the Senate.
Luxembourg politicians have most passwords exposed per individual
Luxembourg has a relatively small parliament, but we still only found the official email addresses of 10 of its 60 members on the dark web (16%). However, Luxembourgish politicians have had a lot of passwords exposed and in plaintext — 38 to be exact — more than the entire Dutch parliament. However, this seems to be driven by one politician who had 29 of their passwords exposed in plaintext. While this is high and a major security vulnerability — each plaintext password is potentially a compromised account — it’s still nowhere near the worst offender we found in our investigation. That remains the French politician who had 138 passwords appear in plaintext on the dark web (their email appeared 137 times as well).
Similar to other countries we’ve looked at, Luxembourg has had multiple government websites taken down due to DDoS attacks by Russian hackers. For one two-week stretch in 2024, from the end of March through the beginning of April, Russian hackers attacked websites(nouvelle fenêtre) for the ministries of finance and justice, Luxembourg’s official statistics agency, and its national health fund, taking them offline repeatedly(nouvelle fenêtre).
We all must be more secure online – but especially government officials
As the examples above show, state actors affiliated with China and Russia are persistently probing European countries for any cracks in their cybersecurity. Even if none of these exposed email addresses leaked confidential information, they could be added to attackers’ databases, giving them one more piece of information they can leverage. And if a politician reused an exposed password on an official account (and neglected to use two-factor authentication), that could directly lead to a massive leak.
We can all learn from this. One of the biggest things to take away is you should never expose any personally identifiable information unnecessarily. Or, in this case, you should never use your professional email to create online accounts, especially if you’re a government official with access to secret information. Breaches happen all the time. If you create accounts using a government email, it’s only a matter of time before one will be leaked in a data breach. Then attackers instantly know they have information on a high-value target.
Here are some other easy steps that everyone — but especially politicians and other high-profile or public figures — can take to strengthen their account security:
Use email aliases: Email aliases hide your real email address while still letting you send and receive emails. If you never share your real email address, it can’t be leaked in a data breach. You can also delete aliases that have been exposed in leaks without needing to reset all your other accounts.
Use a password manager: A password manager makes it easy for you to use a strong, random, and unique password for each of your accounts. It should also provide ways to securely share passwords, making it easier to avoid having them fall into the wrong hands.
Use dark web monitoring services: Given how much trust we’re forced to give the companies we create accounts for, everyone should use some form of dark web monitoring to alert you if your information appears in these illegal marketplaces. This at least gives you a chance to update your email (or email alias) and password before anyone can exploit it.
Proton Pass can solve all of these problems. If you choose our Proton Pass Plus plan, you get:
A built-in two-factor authentication code generator
Pass Monitor, which alerts you if your Proton Mail email addresses or aliases appear on the dark web
Proton Sentinel, which defends your Proton Account against takeover attacks
Take control of your account security (and, if you’re a parliamentarian, help avert a national scandal) by signing up for a Proton Pass Plus plan today.
Thousands of businesses of all sizes were impacted by cybercrime in 2024. Here
are the top cybersecurity threats we expect companies to face in 2025—and how
Proton Pass can protect your business.