On September 6, German Foreign Ministry officials said that a hacking group affiliated with Russia’s military intelligence service was targeting German politicians with phishing attacks ahead of the country’s elections on September 26. German intelligence agencies warned in July that the Russian hacking collective, known as Ghostwriter, was attempting to steal data from German officials, potentially to use in a hack-and-leak operation designed to disrupt the German elections. Days before the polls opened, the European Union’s top diplomat attributed Ghostwriter’s campaign to Russia and called the group’s actions a threat to “the core functioning of our democracies.” No significant hack-and-leak operation surfaced prior to Germany’s election.