16.03.2026 07:40
Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, former Deputy Head of the German Intelligence Service and former NATO Intelligence Chief, fell victim to hackers by being deceived by a message saying "Enter your PIN code," resulting in the loss of his Signal account; the incident became even more noteworthy due to his book on cyber attacks.
It has been revealed that the Signal account of Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, former Deputy Head of the German Intelligence Service (BND), was hacked by cybercriminals. According to reports in the German press, Loringhoven lost control of his account by believing a fake message that said, "Enter your PIN code," which came to his phone.
After the incident, it was assessed that Loringhoven's Signal account remained under the control of hackers for a while and that the attack was carried out using the phishing method.
HE ALSO SERVED IN NATO
This development drew attention due to Loringhoven's career. Having worked in the intelligence field for many years, Loringhoven served as the deputy head of Germany's foreign intelligence service BND and also held senior positions in NATO's intelligence structure.
HE HAS A BOOK ON CYBER ATTACKS
What makes the incident even more noteworthy is that Loringhoven has worked on cybersecurity. It is also known that the former NATO intelligence chief wrote a book on "cyber attacks and digital security threats."
Experts state that the incident demonstrates how effective cyber attacks can be even with very simple methods. In phishing attacks, the goal is for users to share their personal information or verification codes through fake messages.