Published on: 18.10.2022 – 23:54
The German media revelations have been chaotic as the war in Ukraine has dragged on for a decade and relations with Russia have faltered. For almost ten days, the president of the German cyber security authority sat in the hot seat because of criticism of the lack of distance to Russia. The facts are still not clear, but the Minister of the Interior has decided to thank the person concerned.
With our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut
“Especially in the current situation against the background of Russian hybrid warfare, the necessary public trust in the neutrality and impartiality of the authority is being called into question,” said the spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, on which the authority depends, to the German cyber security company BSI on Tuesday in these terms the dismissal of the president of the organization.
Arne Schönbohm, who has been in office for six years, has been criticized in the media for his affiliation with a cybersecurity advisory association he co-founded ten years ago, whose members are suspected of having contacts with Russian secret services. The president of this association is close to Moscow and was invited to observe the last presidential elections in Russia.
The Ministry of the Interior emphasizes that the presumption of innocence applies. An expert from the Green Party government majority regrets that the allegations made against the deposed head of the cyber security agency remain imprecise. But the organization’s image has been damaged while the Russian threat in this area is regularly mentioned. The recent attacks on the gas pipeline north current or one railway sabotage Magnitude earlier in the month has reignited debates.