The German government is preparing an overhaul of its intelligence and cybersecurity powers to fight back against foreign hackers and spies with offensive cyber operations of its own.
Officials are drafting two pieces of legislation, one revising the powers of Germany’s foreign intelligence services to allow them to conduct cyber operations abroad, and another giving security services more power to fight back against hybrid threats, according to the Interior Ministry. Germany has been flooded by a wave of digital and hybrid disruptions, from drone incursions over airports in Berlin and Munich to a cyberattack on the country’s air traffic control system.
Read more…
Source: Politico News
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Europe-wide takedown hits longest-standing dark web drug market
June 16, 2025
Law enforcement authorities across Europe have dismantled ‘Archetyp Market’, the most enduring dark web marketplace, following a large-scale operation involving six countries, supported by Europol and Eurojust. Between 11 and 13 June, a series of coordinated actions took place across Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, targeting the platform’s administrator, moderators, key vendors, and technical infrastructure. ...
- Germany designates rising far-right AfD party as ‘extremist’ group
May 2, 2025
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency on Friday designated the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, as an “extremist endeavor,” a move that lowers hurdles for the spy agency in conducting certain kinds of surveillance on the party, the second-largest in Germany’s parliament. In a statement, the intelligence agency said the designation was “due to the extremist ...
- BADBAZAAR and MOONSHINE: Spyware targeting Uyghur, Taiwanese and Tibetan groups and civil society actors
April 9, 2025
MOONSHINE and BADBAZAAR are examples of trojans; they have malicious functions hidden inside an otherwise functioning app that can be downloaded from app stores or online file-sharing services. These apps are designed to trick a user into downloading and installing them on a device. Once an app is installed, it uses vulnerabilities on the device to ...
- Posting hateful speech online could lead to police raiding your home in this European country
February 16, 2025
If you’ve ever dared to read the comments on a social media post, you might start to wonder if civilized discourse is just a myth. Aggressive threats, lies, and harassment have unfortunately become the norm online, where anonymity has emboldened some users to push the limits of civility. In the United States, most of what ...
- Europol: Law enforcement takes down two largest cybercrime forums in the world
January 30, 2025
A Europol-supported operation, led by German authorities and involving law enforcement from eight countries, has led to the takedown of the two largest cybercrime forums in the world. The two platforms, Cracked and Nulled, had more than 10 million users in total. Both of these underground economy forums offered a quick entry point into the cybercrime ...
- Pressure mounts on EU to use legal weapons against Musk’s interference
January 7, 2025
What are you waiting for, Brussels? Elon Musk’s decision to host German far-right leader Alice Weidel in a livestream on X is sparking fury from European Union leaders and lawmakers, who on Monday urged Brussels to deploy its full legal might to rein in the billionaire tech magnate. In response, the European Commission said the SpaceX ...