After the announcement that Germany is supplying tanks to Ukraine, Russian hackers threaten attacks.
Among the targets are said to be banks, government websites and the federal government.
Update from January 25, 8:46 p.m
.: Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s website is also unavailable on Wednesday evening.
According to information from the editorial network Germany, this could be related to the call by suspected Russian hackers for cyber attacks on German government websites.
In addition, the website of the Franziskus Hospital in Berlin is said to have been unavailable on Wednesday evening.
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The website of Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) cannot be reached on Wednesday evening.
© Screenshot/Website Annalena Baerbock (Greens)
Alleged Russian hacker group calls for cyber attack against Germany
First report from January 25, 2023, 7:34 p.m
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Moscow/ Berlin - "The apocalypse is getting closer," pro-Russian hackers wrote in a Telegram channel after Germany received a delivery of Leopard tanks to Ukraine in the wake of the Russian war of aggression.
As the Handelsblatt reports, the group is calling for a “comprehensive cyber attack on Germany”, and other groups should take part.
Under the hashtag #DeutschlandRIP, the group has published a list of possible attack targets, including the websites of government agencies and ministries.
Among the hackers is said to be the Killnet group.
It was also announced on Wednesday that experts believe that Germany is currently not well positioned to prosecute criminal hackers.
However, without effective law enforcement, cybersecurity could not be improved.
That's what Stefanie Frey from Deutor Cyber Security Solutions said on Wednesday at a hearing in the Digital Committee of the Bundestag.
Anyone who has ever visited the cybercrime department of a state criminal investigation office knows that this is not an attractive job for the specialists who are urgently needed to solve such crimes.
The salaries are also too low.
Cyber security in Germany must be reorganized
Misbah Khan, Green Party domestic policy maker, said: "Our aim is to re-order the cybersecurity architecture.
At the moment there are too many structures and actors that work past each other.” The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is predestined to – as suggested by Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) – take on the previously missing function as a central office.
In order to increase trust in and credibility of the BSI, it must also become more independent.
As the IT magazine COOS reports, new trends in hacker attacks have been observed since the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine: On the one hand, the pro-Russian hacker groups are becoming better networked.
On the other hand, sympathizers are recruited in a targeted manner - including with the promise of being able to avoid being drafted into the Russian military by working together.
Pro-Russian hacker groups more active since Ukraine war - currently Deutsche Bank affected?
The websites of individual airports were not accessible on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Handelsblatt, the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the financial supervisory authority Bafin, but also the Deutsche Bank and the Bundesbank, the police, the airports in the country and the Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) are among the targets of the hackers from Russia.
In the afternoon, a website assigned to Deutsche Bank was temporarily unavailable, as was the website of the Federal Criminal Police Office.
According to the Handelsblatt, however, it was unclear in all cases whether the threats from pro-Russian hacker groups were related to the problems in accessing the websites.
The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has therefore confirmed that there are currently targets against Germany.
However, the situation is under control.
Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov denied Russia's involvement in hacker groups like Killnet on Wednesday.
Sven Herpig, head of cyber security policy and resilience at the Stiftung Neue responsibility (SNV), told the Handelsblatt that threats should be expected after a tank delivery: "But I wouldn't see this operation as an escalation."