What role does cyber warfare play in military conflicts? And what is the current risk of a cyber attack on important IT systems and critical infrastructures in Germany?

In Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Internet is also becoming a battlefield. Although there have only been a few “hard” cyber attacks on critical infrastructures so far, cyber attacks can be carried out, for example, in preparation for physical attacks and as part of hybrid warfare.

In contrast, researchers consider an open cyber attack by Russia on EU states and Germany to be rather unlikely at the moment. Nevertheless, the danger online must be taken seriously, warns security researcher and emergenCITY scientist Professor Christian Reuter. For example, independent attacks by patriotic hackers seeking revenge for sanctions imposed by the West are also conceivable. “It’s not that we can sit back, we have to monitor the situation very closely in order to identify anomalies and also to be able to intervene quickly in case of doubt,” Reuter said.

Professor Reuter gives an assessment of the situation in cyberspace in several interviews. In the newspapers Die Rheinpfalz, Frankfurter Rundschau and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he talks about imminent dangers, Germany’s weak points and ways to counter them.