Seeking Security

It took security researcher Lilith Wittmann only a few hours to crack open the app of Germany's ruling political party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).In May, party campaigners were using the app CDU Connect to gauge public opinion in the lead-up to September's federal election.Some chatter online made Wittmann, 25, take notice."I was a bit like, ‘Wow, they are collecting, like, super personal data about people,’ … where they are living and what is their political opinion," Wittmann told The World in an interview at a Berlin park.Related: US and allies accuse China of hacking campaign Lilith Wittmann is a security researcher in Berlin.  Credit: Jennie Russell/The World  When she downloaded the app, she quickly discovered that it lacked common security practices and its programming interface was surprisingly easy to penetrate.The fallout from what Wittmann says was a well-intentioned hack to improve the app's security highlights a long-standing concer