German Military to Launch the Bundeswehr’s new Cyber and Information Space Command

Today the German Military is going to launch a cyber command, the Bundeswehr’s new Cyber and Information Space (CIR) Command.

Today the German Military is going to launch a cyber command, the Bundeswehr’s new Cyber and Information Space (CIR) Command, a structure that is considered strategic for the defence of the country from cyber attacks.

According to the new commander, Lieutenant General Ludwig Leinhos, Germany is taking a leading role among the members of the NATO alliance.

“Leinhos said the main tasks would be to operate and protect the military’s own IT infrastructure and computer-assisted weapons systems, as well as surveillance of online threats.” reported the Reuters agency.

The German Government intends to protect its critical infrastructure and its assets from cyber attacks. The German military fears cyber espionage and sabotage.

The Bundeswehr’s new Cyber and Information Space (CIR) Command, will be composed of 260 IT specialists, but the Government plans to increase its staff up to 13,500 military and civilian personnel by July.

The General Ludwig Leinhos confirmed that the centre will be tasked to develop offensive cyber capabilities.

“He said the centre would also develop and war-game offensive capabilities because “in order to be able to defend yourself, you have to know the options for attack”.” continues the Reuters.

The operations conducted by the Cyber and Information Space (CIR) Command would have to be approved by the German Parliament, this means that cyber operations are considered equal to conventional military missions.

The creation of the centre is the response to the numerous attacks suffered by the German Government, last year the Bundestag was hit by numerous attacks.

In June, German media reported that Bundestag may need to replace 20,000 computers after hackers breached the Bundestag systems.

According to the Der Spiegel magazine, security experts involved in the investigation on the attack against the Bundestag suspect that the hack was part of a large-scale espionage campaign conducted by Russians state-sponsored hackers.

The German defense ministry said that in the first nine weeks of 2017, the IT systems of the Bundeswehr had been hit by more than 280,000 attacks.

“we are in a constant race between the development of attack options and defensive capabilities” concluded Leinhos.

[adrotate banner=”9″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – German Military, Cyber and Information Space)