According to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, a technically completely renovated IT situation center can ensure better protection of federal systems and citizens from manipulation and disinformation in the future. “It is important to protect our democracy in the digital world too,” said the SPD politician to the German Press Agency. She wants to open the new national IT situation center at the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) in Bonn this Tuesday.
This year, when, in addition to the European elections, there are also three state elections in eastern German states, Faeser emphasized that it is particularly important to arm yourself against threats from hacker attacks, manipulation and disinformation. These attacks were not only aimed at individual politicians, but also at shaking trust in democracy. Artificial intelligence (AI) could enable criminals or secret services to manipulate citizens more easily and influence public debates with lies and propaganda. Protecting election authorities from hacker attacks and securely transmitting election results are just as important. “We are keeping a close eye on these threats – and are taking them particularly seriously given the elections this year,” said Faeser.
The BSI’s IT situation center used so far is already over ten years old and therefore no longer corresponds to the state of the art, a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior explained upon request. The new national IT situation center is equipped with the latest communication technology and has ten workstations in regular operation. According to the information, the IT situation center in Bonn receives around 2,800 reports of IT security incidents and security gaps from 22 reporting points every year. In the event of special incidents, up to 100 IT security specialists could work together in the future thanks to the new infrastructure, said the spokeswoman.