Germany has finally decided to up its stand on cyber security. So, on this note, the country has launched a new military unit dedicated to thwarting cyber attacks on public and private utilities.
Therefore, from now on, as soon as a nation launches a cyber attack on Germany’s digital assets, the military’s special unit will come into force to take offensive measures against the offenders. The cyber unit will not only have powers to repel the attacks but also launch the same attack on the offenders with higher severity.
Defense Minister Ursula Von Der Leyen announced this new development on Wednesday and said that that new unit will become fully operational by 2021.
Ursula Von Der Leyen said that the unit is being put under control of a lieutenant General with an initial 260 troops under his command and the cyber unit will be fully capable of deterring cyber attacks of varying degrees of severity. The Defense Minister added that the unit of the cyber army will be officially launched in this summer and in next 4 years will gain full capacity i.e. will have over 13K staff members which will help defend the entire nation on an offensive note.
Germany in its latest budget allotted 1.6 billion Euros for IT related items ranging from radios, hardware and service contracts. The military has also proposed to spend over half a billion on grooming the cyber army with latest potentials related to threats in cyberspace.
Last year, Germany accused Russia of launching cyber attacks on its parliamentary members. Russia president Vladimir Putin indirectly accepted these claims and hinted that his government aims to take down Angela Merkel to promote far right groups in the upcoming German elections.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is seeking a 4th term in office has already predicted that Russia will try to influence the Germany elections of 2017 like it did in US 2016 polls to favor Donald Trump.
So, based on her request, the Germany government initiated the military to establish a cyber unit to thwart any kind of cyber threats of future on the nation’s critical infrastructure.
