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Illustration of satellites: Central to the financial system
Photo:
Ingo Wagner / dpa
Investigations into the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines are ongoing - and the authorities are worried about further attacks on the critical infrastructure on land and at sea.
However, German industry is now also warning of targeted attacks in space.
"Europe's actual weak point is not on the seabed, but in space," says Matthias Wachter, head of the security department at the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the "Handelsblatt".
Wachter sees satellites and their ground stations as possible targets.
If this network is sabotaged on a larger scale, an integral part of global data transfer will collapse - with far-reaching consequences.
Civil and military communications, as well as signals for navigation services, are routed via satellites.
However, a disruption would also affect the processing of money transfers and stock trading.
Estonia calls for better underwater surveillance in the Baltic Sea
The exchange of data via the stations in space is of central importance for the financial system, as Wachter says, who is also the managing director of the BDI initiative New Space.
In the processing of capital transfers, for example in connection with stock transactions, time and data are compared via satellite.
Wachter: »If these fail, the entire financial system could be massively affected.«
Because of the attack on the Baltic Sea pipelines, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur is now demanding that NATO jointly monitor the Baltic Sea.
"NATO has been conducting 'air policing' over the Baltic Sea for years," he told Die Zeit.
One should now also think about »sub policing« – under water.
The seas are not well enough protected under the surface.
They also rely on the reconnaissance capabilities of the NATO accession countries Finland and Sweden.
Meanwhile, the President of Thuringia's Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Stephan Kramer, has warned of Russian attacks on critical infrastructure.
"As the war continues and escalates, attacks against the West and especially against the West's infrastructure become more and more likely," he told the Handelsblatt newspaper.
»We have been registering corresponding attacks in the network of security authorities for months.«
It is also about making Ukraine's support for the West as expensive as possible and ultimately questioning it socially and politically.
"This can be done both digitally and analogously," Kramer is quoted as saying.
»Everything and everyone can become a weapon, we finally have to adjust to that.«
Apr
