all-in-one privacy solution":["Proton Unlimited jest kompleksowym rozwiązaniem zapewniającym prywatność"],"Black Friday":["Czarny Piątek"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Brak reklam. Prywatność w standardzie."],"People before profits":["Ludzie przed zyskiem"],"Security through transparency":["Bezpieczeństwo dzięki przejrzystości"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["Najlepsze oferty Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY }"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":["Jedyna na świecie usługa e-mail wspierana przez społeczność"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } godzina","${ hours } godziny","${ hours } godzin","${ hours } godziny"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["Pozostało: ${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } i ${ secondsLeft }"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minuta","${ minutes } minuty","${ minutes } minut","${ minutes } minuty"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } sekunda","${ seconds } sekundy","${ seconds } sekund","${ seconds } sekundy"],"Limited time offer":["Oferta ograniczona czasowo"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Utwórz wiele adresów"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Aliasy hide-my-email"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Szybko anuluj subskrypcję biuletynów"],"Use your own domain name":["Korzystaj z własnej nazwy domeny"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Opinie naszych klientów"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Uzyskaj zaszyfrowaną usługę e-mail, która chroni Twoją prywatność"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Wyprzedaż Proton Mail z okazji Czarnego Piątku – uzyskaj do 40% zniżki"]},"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.":["Uzyskaj do 40% zniżki na subskrypcje Proton Mail w ten Czarny Piątek. Znajdź wspaniałe oferty naszych bezpiecznych planów usługi poczty elektronicznej w szyfrowaniu end-to-end."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Wyprzedaż Proton Mail z okazji Czarnego Piątku | Do 40% zniżki na bezpieczną pocztę elektroniczną"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["* Płatne ${ TOTAL_SUM } za pierwszy rok"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["* Płatne ${ TOTAL_SUM } za pierwsze 2 lata"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["30-dniowa gwarancja zwrotu pieniędzy"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["Płatne ${ TOTAL_SUM } za pierwsze 2 lata"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["Płatne ${ TOTAL_SUM } za pierwszy rok"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["Oszczędzasz ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["-${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["Uwielbiam ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Moja ulubiona usługa e-mail"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Dziękuję Protonowi za dbanie o nasze bezpieczeństwo w skomplikowanym internetowym uniwersum."],"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":["Dostajesz to, za co płacisz. W przypadku przedsiębiorstw big tech, jeśli nie płacisz nic, zostaniesz wykorzystany. Przestałam korzystać z Gmail i przeniosłam się na @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Dni"],"Hours":["Godz."],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["I wiele więcej"],"Safe from trackers":["Żadnych elementów śledzących"],"Stay organized":["Dbaj o dobrą organizację"],"Black Friday email deals":["Oferty e-mailowe na Czarny Piątek"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Nie musisz wierzyć nam na słowo"],"Make your inbox yours":["Niech skrzynka odbiorcza należy tylko do Ciebie"],"Our story":["Nasza historia"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Przenieś dane z Google jednym kliknięciem"]},"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.":["Uzyskaj dostęp do zablokowanych treści i przeglądaj prywatnie Internet. Obejmuje ponad ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS } serwerów w ponad ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES } krajach z możliwością połączenia do 10 urządzeń, a także dostęp do globalnych usług streamingu, blokadę reklam, złośliwego oprogramowania i wiele więcej."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Łatwo udostępniaj swój kalendarz rodzinie, znajomym oraz współpracownikom i wyświetla kalendarze zewnętrzne."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Zawiera obsługę 1 niestandardowej domeny e-mail, 10 adresów e-mail, 10 aliasów hide-my-email, udostępnianie kalendarza i nie tylko."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Obejmuje obsługę 3 niestandardowych domen e-mail, 15 adresów e-mail, nielimitowane aliasy hide-my-email, udostępnianie kalendarza i nie tylko."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Zarządzanie nawet 25 kalendarzami, aplikacje mobilne, bezpieczne szyfrowanie metodą end-to-end, importowanie kalendarza za pomocą jednego kliknięcia z Google i więcej."]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["Dowiedz się więcej"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["Uwaga: obecnie występują problemy z usługą ${ issues[0] }."],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["Mamy problemy z co najmniej jedną usługą."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["W tej chwili mamy problemy z usługą Proton VPN"],"Learn more":["Dowiedz się więcej"]},"steps":{"Step":["Krok"]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Sugestie"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Podkategoria","Podkategorie","Podkategorii","Podkategorii"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min"],"Category":["Kategoria","Kategorie","Kategorii","Kategorii"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Nie znaleziono szukanej frazy?"],"General contact":["Skontaktuj się, wykorzystując ogólne zapytanie"],"Get help":["Uzyskaj pomoc"],"Legal contact":["Skontaktuj się z działem prawnym"],"Media contact":["Skontaktuj się z zespołem medialnym"],"Partnerships contact":["Skontaktuj się z zespołem ds. partnerstwa"],"Reading":["Odczytywanie"]},"Support Form Platform option":{"VPN for Android TV":["VPN dla Android TV"],"VPN for Apple TV":["VPN na Apple TV"],"VPN for Chromebook":["VPN dla Chromebooka"]},"Support troubleshooting":{"App version":["Wersja aplikacji"],"Browser":["Przeglądarka"],"Check if this helps":["Sprawdź, czy to pomoże"],"Choose a product":["Wybierz produkt"],"Did this solve your issue?":["Czy Twój problem został rozwiązany?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away":["Szybsze wsparcie uzyskasz w kilka kliknięć"],"How can we help?":["Jak możemy pomóc?"],"No, contact support":["Nie, skontaktuj się z pomocą techniczną"],"Please fill out one field after another":["Wypełnij pola jedno po drugim"],"Please make your selections":["Dokonaj wyboru"],"Proton account":["Konto Proton"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Dziękujemy za podzielenie się opinią"],"What can we help with?":["W czym możemy pomóc?"],"Yes":["Tak"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Zapytanie wyszukiwania"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Szukaj"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Szukam"]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["W celu szybszego rozwiązania problemu dokonaj zgłoszenia przez aplikację Bridge: Pomoc > Zgłoś problem."],"Information":["Informacje"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Bezpieczeństwo konta"],"Contacts":["Kontakty"],"Custom email domain":["Niestandardowa domena e-mail"],"Email delivery and Spam":["Dostarczanie wiadomości e-mail i spam"],"Encryption":["Szyfrowanie"],"Login and password":["Login i hasło"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Scalanie aliasów i kont"],"Migrate to Proton":["Migracja do Proton"],"Notifications":["Powiadomienia"],"Other":["Inne"],"Plans and billing":["Plany i rozliczenia"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Sign up":["Rejestracja"],"Storage":["Przestrzeń dyskowa"],"Users, addresses, and identities":["Użytkownicy, adresy i tożsamości"]},"SupportForm:optionIntro":{"Select a topic":["Wybierz temat"]},"Testimonial":{"Awards":["Nagrody"],"Customers":["Klienci"],"Featured":["Wyróżnione"],"Go to testimonial source":["Przejdź do źródła referencji"],"Open source of award":["Otwórz źródło nagrody"],"Open source of quote":["Otwórz źródło cytatu"],"Reviews":["Opinie"],"Videos":["Pliki wideo"],"Watch on TikTok":["Oglądaj na TikTok"],"Watch on YouTube":["Oglądaj na YouTube"]},"TestimonialCategory":{"Awards":["Nagrody"],"Customers":["Klienci"],"Featured":["Wyróżnione"],"Media":["Multimedia"],"Reviews":["Opinie"],"Videos":["Pliki wideo"]},"Text":{"If you need help, check out our ${ supportLink }.":["Jeśli potrzebujesz pomocy, sprawdź naszą ${ supportLink }."],"The page you’re looking for might have been removed, or it could be an\nold link.":["Strona, której szukasz, mogła zostać usunięta lub link jest przestarzały."],"Your question may already have an answer in our knowledge base:":["Na Twoje pytanie może już istnieć odpowiedź w bazie wiedzy:"]},"Title":{"On this page":["Na tej stronie"],"Related articles":["Powiązane artykuły"],"Share ${ thisPage }":["Udostępnij ${ thisPage }"],"Switch to Proton Pass - Contact us":["Przejdź na Proton Pass – skontaktuj się z nami"],"Thank you!":["Dziękujemy!"],"this page":["tę stronę"]},"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.":["Uzyskaj dostęp do zablokowanych treści i przeglądaj prywatnie Internet. Obejmuje ponad ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS } serwerów w ponad ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES } krajach, najwyższe prędkości VPN, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } połączeń VPN, usługi streamingu na całym świecie, blokowanie reklam oraz złośliwego oprogramowania i wiele więcej."]},"vpn_servers":{"Get Proton VPN Plus":["Wybierz plan Proton VPN Plus"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Action":{"Get Proton Wallet":["Wybierz Proton Wallet"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Homepage hero product link title":{"Wallet":["Portfel"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Homepage product navigation bar":{"Wallet":["Portfel"]},"wallet_signup_2024:menu item":{"Bitcoin guide":["Przewodnik po systemie Bitcoin"],"Proton Wallet news":["Aktualności Proton Wallet"],"Proton Wallet support":["Wsparcie dla Proton Wallet"]},"wallet_signup_2024:Pricing":{"Includes everything in Proton Unlimited and":["Zawiera wszystko, co Proton Unlimited oraz"],"Limited availability":["Ograniczona dostępność"],"The easiest way to securely own, send, and receive Bitcoin":["Najprostszy sposób na bezpieczne przechowywanie, wysyłanie i odbieranie waluty Bitcoin"]},"wallet_signup_2024:ProductRange":{"Discover Proton Wallet":["Odkryj rozwiązanie Proton Wallet"],"Store and transact Bitcoin privately with an encrypted self-custody wallet.":["Bezpiecznie przechowuj i przesyłaj Bitcoiny dzięki szyfrowanemu portfelowi typu self-custody."]},"wallet_signup_2024:wallet bitcoin":{"Learn about Bitcoin, the Internet's value network.":["Dowiedz się więcej o internetowym systemie gotówkowym Bitcoin."]},"wallet_signup_2024:wallet overview":{"Ensure you're always in control of your Bitcoin.":["Miej pełny nadzór nad swoimi Bitcoinami."]},"wallet_signup_2024:wallet security":{"The encrypted, open-source wallet that puts you in control.":["Szyfrowany portfel o otwartym kodzie źródłowym, który daje Ci pełną kontrolę."]}}},"base":"blog","cdn":{"enabledForAssets":true,"enabledForImages":true,"url":"https://pmecdn.protonweb.com/"},"unleashApi":"https://account.proton.me/api"};
window.frameworkContext = frameworkContext;
const context = frameworkContext.base === '' ? '' : `${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(nowe okno) 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(nowe okno) 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(nowe okno) 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(nowe okno) 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(nowe okno) for the ministries of finance and justice, Luxembourg’s official statistics agency, and its national health fund, taking them offline repeatedly(nowe okno).
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.