According to German media reports, Berlin wants to create conditions to be able to hit back in the event of a cyberattack. The move comes as the country gears up for September's general election amid fears of hacking.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/MAXPPP/A. Marchi
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In the event of a cyberattack, as well as being able to defend against incursions, Germany plans to have the ability to destroy hostile servers if necessary, German daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and broadcasters NDR and WDR reported.
Among experts, such measures are known as "computer network operations" or "hackback," the reports said.
During an ongoing attack, police, military or intelligence service units would attempt to identify the assailant and block the attack or destroy the servers being used to stage the incursion.
A prerequisite for such action would be that a legal aid request is not possible and that the attack from abroad can not be stopped.
Why it seems like everyone's being hacked
German and US leaders aren't the only ones worried about hacking. The past fortnight has seen several countries, companies and celebrities affected by data breaches. And the hackers have picked some unusual targets.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Marchi
CCTV surveillance cameras hacked in DC
Two people were arrested in Britain on Saturday after allegedly attempting to hack the Washington DC CCTV surveillance camera system just days before President Donald Trump's inauguration. US media said 123 out of almost 200 cameras throughout the city were disabled by ransomware software. Officials feared a bigger attack may have been planned for the day of Trump's swearing in.
Image: picture alliance/ZB/P. Pleul
Fears over Dutch election hack
The Netherlands said it will count ballots from its election on March 15 by hand after fears its vote counting software is vulnerable to hacking. Several Dutch ministries and even the prime minister's office have been targeted by Russian and other hackers. The rise of anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders (pictured) has piled pressure on mainstream parties in the upcoming vote.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/R. Utrecht
Norway's state institutions targeted
Norway said Russian-based hackers have attempted to break into email accounts linked to the domestic intelligence agency. None of the accounts, used by the Foreign Ministry, the military, a university, the nuclear watchdog and the opposition Labour party, were used for classified information. A probe has begun into whether the group known as APT29 - also known as Cozy Bear - was responsible.
Image: picture alliance/Bildagentur-online
Anti-Trump song forced onto US radio stations
Several US radio stations in South Carolina, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky have been hacked by anti-Trump activists, the Verge reported. Instead of the stations' usual music format, an unstoppable audio loop of YG and Nipsey Hussle’s hip hop track "F**k Donald Trump" played out. It apparently took the stations several hours to fix the problem.
Image: Getty Images for adidas/J. Moore
Czech minister's emails intercepted
The Czech Republic's foreign minister has confirmed that his own email account - and those of colleagues in the Foreign Ministry - have been hacked. TheNeovlivni.cz news site reported "thousands of files" were retrieved, but the Foreign Ministry has denied classified information was obtained. Russia has not been blamed publicly, but, privately, officials are pointing the finger at the Kremlin.
Image: picture alliance/ZB/M. Tödt
Hotel targeted by ransomware hackers
An Austrian luxury hotel is to replace its electronic room cards with old fashioned keys after blackmail-hungry hackers gained access to its locking system. The Romantik Seehotel Jaegerwirt in the Austrian Alps says it's been repeatedly targeted. In one incident, the owners had to pay 1,500 euros to ransom software hackers to get the room cards working again.
David Beckham has blamed a hacked email account after British media alleged he sent a string of foul-mouthed private emails over his failure to be named Sir David by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. The Football Leaks website claims the soccer star was frustrated that he wasn't given a knighthood and dismissed a lesser award known as the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Image: picture alliance/empics/M. Rickett
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In government circles, for example, this would include an attack on an electricity grid or another hacking of the Bundestag - Germany's lower house of parliament. In this case, it would also be possible to remove the servers on which stolen parliament data is located.
There is, however, no current legal basis for such projects. Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, has just installed its own cyber-subcontracting force, but it is only responsible for warlike acts from abroad or if its own troops were attacked.
Fears of election interference
Berlin now plans to draw up the corresponding legal proposals to permit a response in the case of cyberattacks on civilian targets.
Germany's Federal Security Council, chaired by Chancellor Angela Merkel, reportedly decided at the end of March to carry out an analysis of the required technical skills. The results will be presented this summer to the Federal Security Council, which meets behind closed doors.
Russian cyberespionage comes to Germany
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Potential cyberattacks on Germany's upcoming parliamentary elections in September have been a topic of discussion since autumn 2016, particularly in light of claims by US intelligence agencies that Russian attackers influenced November's presidential election.
Volker Kauder, a leading member of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told DW that "he is not scared." He points out that Germany, unlike the United States, does not use electronic voting machines with an internet connection.
Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, reports, however, that evidence of an influence on parliament has grown since Germany took a hard line on sanctions in the Ukraine conflict.
Moscow is suspected of having attacked the Bundestag's internal data network in the spring of 2015 and stolen information.
