Before the Chancellor's visit to China, Germany has concluded a cyber agreement with the People's Republic. The Federal Government hopes thereby a containment of Chinese hacker attacks and a better protection of German enterprises.
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At the end of August, Parliamentary State Secretary Günter Krings (CDU) traveled to Beijing with a delegation from the Ministry of the Interior and signed a memorandum with China's Vice Minister of Security. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), there should be a "connection channel" for a quick exchange on "cyber security incidents".
German security agencies have been increasingly registering hacker attacks originating in China since 2017. The constitution protection report speaks of a "rising threat situation". The aim of the Cyberspionageattacken are mainly high-tech companies. Victims of attacks included Siemens, BASF and the software company Teamviewer.
Also problematic from a German perspective are the far-reaching security laws in China, which could allow government agencies to access the data of companies operating there if the companies transfer them abroad. According to the BMI, the new cyber channel between Beijing and Berlin could also be helpful for clarifying such questions.
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