information technology
Cyber Agency: We need to rethink security
Christian Hummert, Research Director of the Agency for Innovation in Cybersecurity, speaks during an interview. photo
© Heiko Rebsch/dpa
Cyber security in Germany is expandable compared to other countries, says the head of Halle’s Federal Agency for Innovation in Cyber Security.
According to the head of the cyber agency, Christian Hummert, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine will have an impact on how Germany defends itself in the future.
“What we are seeing is hybrid warfare, i.e. cyber actions combined with physical actions – for example, during the first wave of attacks, Russia attacked systems in Ukraine to prevent the army from communicating,” Hummert told the German Press Agency. Cyber is therefore added to the war dimensions of air, water and army. “That has certain advantages, because if I paralyze an e-plant with a cyber attack, I can switch it on again once I’ve conquered it.”
The war that began on February 22nd last year had a view to the Cybersecurity revealed a lot of things “that we may not have seen before,” Hummert said. The agency is looking at the influence these developments have or must have on the Bundeswehr and its capabilities. “But: We don’t research weapons at the cyber agency, explicitly not. We’re over an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
Question of hackbacks needs to be resolved
The cyber agency is based in Halle. It was founded in 2020 and assigned to the Ministry of Defense and the Federal Ministry of the Interior. According to its own statements, its budget from its founding to 2023 is initially 280 million euros.
Hummert said it should be considered whether it should be named in the future which states are responsible for cyber attacks or whether this would endanger security or lead to disagreements between states. In addition, ways would have to be found of how the country could defend itself against cyber attacks without so-called hackbacks – i.e. cyber counterattacks.
Although Germany is not in a bad position compared to other countries in terms of cyber security, according to Hummert there is still room for improvement. “Even smaller countries, such as Estonia, can be a good role model for us. On other issues, we must certainly simply go our own German way.”