Germany reinforces cyber-attack defence
Hacker attacks are a threat to businesses and administrative bodies. The Federal Government responds to this by granting its security authorities new powers. The Bundestag approved the proposal.
Berlin (dpa) – In addition to carrying out preventative measures, German security authorities are to be tasked with “active cyber defence” in the future. The Bundestag has adopted a draft law that grants these agencies the required powers with votes from the CDU/CSU and SPD. The legislative proposal still requires approval of the Bundesrat.
The draft provides for the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), the Federal Police and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) to be equipped with additional tools for fighting off cyber attacks. This includes the prohibition of the operation of information technology systems that can pose a risk, redirection of data traffic and the reading, deletion or modification of data.
Furthermore, the draft law is to enable the BSI to enhance the resilience of the Federal Administration’s information technology and to improve the intelligence situation concerning potential attacks. The officially stated reason for this step is that as a leading European economy, Germany is particularly likely to become the target of cyber attacks that can cause damage amounting to billions of euros.
The Bavarian drone manufacturer Quantum Systems recently reported a cyber attack on the company that occurred at the end of October.
