Security
Federal government establishes agency for cyber security
The Cybersecurity Agency will primarily focus on promoting research projects to protect citizens and infrastructure and will begin its work next year.
The German government has decided to establish an agency for cyber security in order to better protect the state and its citizens from hacker attacks in the future. The Agency for Innovation in Cybersecurity is set to begin its work at the start of 2019. At its meeting on Wednesday, the cabinet left it open as to where the new federal agency will be based. The target figure is 100 employees.
The agency's budget of 200 million euros over the next five years will largely be used to fund research projects that are still in their infancy. The government accepts that some of these projects may flop. "More risk, more courage, without the Court of Auditors and others immediately entering the stage," said Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer (CDU). His department is responsible for the new agency together with the Ministry of Defense.
"We have to be faster than the attackers and the perpetrators," said Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU). It is about "a technological advantage that we urgently need". The aim is to "turn the excellent basic research we have into excellent technology for the security sector."
When asked by a journalist whether the creation of the new agency was also an attempt to become independent of the USA, von der Leyen replied: "We are close allies, but we must also have our own, self-confident and technologically independent standpoint". This would also increase Europe's influence within NATO. Another project should also be seen in this context, which is about "ensuring that European data that is critical also remains physically in Europe."
There is currently no legal basis in Germany for a counter-attack on intruders in the data network, known as a hack-back. Seehofer spoke out in favor of creating this possibility: "I am firmly in favor of creating the political and legal framework - always in accordance with the principle of proportionality - for a graduated approach, where in the end this counter-attack should also be made possible, so to speak, in a special situation on a clear basis for the civilian sector."
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