The German government plans to respond more forcefully to cyberattacks in future, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has said, including by taking action abroad.
“We will strike back, including abroad. We will disrupt attackers and destroy their infrastructure,” Dobrindt told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in comments published on Saturday, adding that Germany would set a low threshold for taking such steps.
Dobrindt said the counterstrikes would be carried out jointly by the intelligence services and the Federal Criminal Police Office.
According to Dobrindt, the Interior Ministry plans to set up a new defence centre against hybrid threats to improve coordination between different levels. The centre is currently being prepared by Germany’s domestic intelligence service and is due to begin work later this year.
The minister said Germany was constantly experiencing cyberattacks targeting institutions, infrastructure and companies.
Many attacks were carried out by groups with links to state intelligence services and financed by them, he said, referring to hybrid attacks from Russia and other parts of the world.
“We cannot accept that,” he said.
Germany’s intelligence services are also set to receive new powers for intelligence-gathering and other activities, Dobrindt said.
“We were dependent for too long on information from others. For me it is clear: we also need a turning point for the intelligence services,” he said, adding he wanted to enable the services to obtain more information themselves and also to act operationally. He said he would present legislation to that end in the first half of the year.