In March 2017, according to cybersecurity firm Trend Micro, hackers from Russian military intelligence agency (GRU)-connected group Fancy Bear, or APT28, hacked the systems of two think tanks tied to the parties of the German coalition government. The Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) Friedrich Ebert Foundation fell victim to a spear phishing operation that attempted to install malicious software. It is suspected that the attacks were targeting Chancellor Angela Merkel, from the CDU party, who was seeking reelection at the time.