Federal Government Bolsters Defenses Against Russian Cyber Attacks

Germany is reinforcing its defenses against threats from cyberspace, as Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of the SPD recently reaffirmed. The resilience of the federal government against attempts to undermine national security sentiment is a foremost concern. In particular, Russian cyber activities have caught the attention of security authorities. Faeser emphasized the ongoing support of Germany for Ukraine. The determination from the federal side is clear: intimidation attempts by the Russian regime find no resonance. The German politician pointed to the necessity to preserve and strengthen trust in government structures and the democratic system under these challenging circumstances. The attacks are comprehensive and are not only targeted against individual parties. The cooperation of Germany with European partners, NATO, and other international allies is central in this regard. National security agencies have thus increased their measures against hybrid threats and rely on close international networking. With upcoming European elections and other political elections in the country in view, particular attention has been paid to the protection against hacking attacks and manipulative disinformation. The SPD party headquarters was mentioned as a concrete example of such an attack. There, cyberattacks occurred in the previous year, facilitated by a then unknown security vulnerability in Microsoft. As a result, there is a possibility that data from email accounts was stolen. Not just politics, but also key economic sectors such as logistics, armaments and aerospace, IT services, as well as foundations and associations, are in the crosshairs of cyber attackers. The federal government attributes the activities to the group APT28, which is suspected to be connected to Russian intelligence services.