Federal election: Microsoft warns of cyber attacks and disinformation

Two and a half months before the planned federal election date, there is great enthusiasm: 82 percent of Green supporters, three quarters of all SPD, Union and Left supporters and a large share of all AfD supporters see the danger that various kinds of efforts are taking. Are. The election could be affected ahead of an early federal election on March 23. This is already a politically foregone conclusion, but it will only be formally triggered after Chancellor Olaf Scholz loses the confidence vote, scheduled for December 17.

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“State actors and certain interest groups are trying to influence the outcome of democratic elections in their favor through large-scale disinformation campaigns,” warned Ralf Wiegand, Microsoft Germany’s national security officer. “We must also see clearly this danger to Germany.”

This warning from Microsoft is also likely to be made against the background that Outlook for Windows was, by and large, a Microsoft product in which a security hole was exploited to attack the SPD party headquarters in January 2023 – so The company is uncannily familiar with the landscapes of Germany.

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Officials warn against attempts to influence

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution had done this only last week warned publiclyBut it was also stressed: “It is not possible to reliably predict what intelligence and security-threatening activities will ultimately occur in the context of the elections for the 21st German Bundestag.”

The Federal Office for Information Security also actively warns against groups that “try to exert influence illegally”, such as BSI President Claudia Plattner. told DeutschlandfunkWebinars are currently being organized with parties and prominent personalities to train them in self-protection measures. Technically, analog implementation poses no threat to the election.

Companies, administrations and politics clearly see security as expandable

Microsoft also surveyed company managers who currently see a higher risk of cyberattacks. Nearly half of companies believe they are adequately prepared against attacks, while a third believe they are poorly or very poorly prepared. Decision makers in politics and administration, who were also surveyed, view the situation as even more serious, Microsoft Germany said: 9 out of 10 respondents said Germany’s critical infrastructure is threatened by state-backed cyberattacks from abroad. Is. Half considered this risk to be very high.

However, it is doubtful that this is directly related to the federal election. Indirectly, however, the federal election also plays a role here: after the yellow phase of the traffic light coalition lost, the NIS2 implementation law is an update of the BSI law in the Bundestag, the purpose of which is to oblige operators of critical systems to take more Is a protective measure. The union faction hopes that the SPD and the Greens will make concessions in terms of content – ​​until the law can be approved. However, the law is largely an implementation of EU law that should have been transposed into German law from October.

(FDS)