exclusive
The ex-Mossad boss Pardo calls for cyber technologies to be brought under international control. Only binding rules could prevent harm to the world. Hacker groups recently threatened to attack Israel.
The former director of the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad, Tamir Pardo, calls for the establishment of an international cyber organization similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA. It monitors compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“The result was and is that our planet still exists. I think we need to look for appropriate regulation. Do the same thing that once happened with the nuclear issue. That is essential when it comes to cyber.” Otherwise, says Pardo, great harm could be done to the world.
Russian hackers steal sensitive data
Cyber attacks are becoming more and more intense and better, the President of the Federal Intelligence Service, Bruno Kahl, confirmed to the ARD-Politics magazine Report Munich: “We perceive the cyber threat to be one of the strongest threats that Germany is exposed to.” This is taken very seriously, said the BND boss.
Hacker groups repeatedly target critical infrastructure. The Baltic states are often affected. In the summer of 2022, after weeks of attacks, the websites of several state institutions and private companies in Lithuania went offline.
In Germany, universities, companies and municipalities are often affected by attacks. On the one hand, the attackers paralyze central services. On the other hand, they also usually steal large amounts of sensitive data.
The hacker network “Black Basta”, for example, which is said to be close to Russian secret services, displays such stolen data on the darknet in order to exert pressure. On the “Basta News” page, the hacker group presents numerous documents from German companies, from sensitive areas such as high-tech, finance and armaments.
According to research by, the data can be found Report Munich Employee and customer ID cards and passports, highly sensitive contracts and health data such as corona test results and X-rays.
Those affected know nothing about ID theft
ARDReporters checked the authenticity of the data using an identity card from a family from the Augsburg area. When they go to the address given, a resident of the house confirms the authenticity of the IDs: “This is my son. And this is my niece.” He heard years ago that hackers were stealing data. But it only hits you “when, for example, you show up and say that’s what happened. Then you realize how close it can get.”
When asked, a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior pointed out that reissuing a passport before the expiry of its validity period was permissible: “The recommendation would be to reissue an identity card/passport early (and subject to a fee). […] only be considered if there would also be an advantage for the pass holder. However, this is generally not evident in the case mentioned in the question.”
Experts disagree: A new ID number in the ID card would at least make it clear that the stolen ID card is no longer valid.
BND President Kahl considers international hacker groups to be highly professional. Often they are not only supported financially, but also with the “entire infrastructure” of states. Both the Chinese and Russian militaries were major players in cyberwar. Most recently, the Russian-speaking hacker collective “Killnet” threatened to attack government systems in Israel.
The ARD documentary “Cyberwar. The invisible battle on the Internet” – now available in the ARD media library.