Minister Wissing: IT breakdowns will increase

According to Federal Digital Minister Volker Wissing, IT breakdowns or cyber attacks on critical infrastructure such as those recently experienced by the US IT security specialist CrowdStrike will happen more often in the future. “This will increase because the level of digitalization is increasing,” the FDP politician told the German Press Agency in Mainz. “And it will increase because artificial intelligence is rapidly accelerating digitalization.” Artificial intelligence is also used by criminals, for example to carry out cyber attacks.

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Recently, an IT breakdown at CrowdStrike caused widespread disruptions around the world, with air traffic coming to a virtual standstill in many places. Supermarkets, banks, hospitals, television stations and other facilities were also affected. CrowdStrike blamed a faulty software update for Windows computers as the cause.

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“There always needs to be a plan B and, even better, more.”

Wissing told dpa that it is important that Germany has appropriate security concepts in place. After it was not possible to fly to Berlin Airport due to the consequences of the malfunction, flights were diverted to other airports according to a concept designed specifically for such cases. It is always about building redundancy into critical infrastructure, as well as being prepared for recent attacks on the rail network in France. This could be an alternative airport, an alternative railway route or another cable replacing the damaged one.

“There is always a need for a plan B and, even better, even more,” said Vissing. “Redundancy is very important so that an attack cannot have an impact and the infrastructure remains usable.” The CrowdStrike case showed that the system works in Germany. “There was no threat to life or limb.”

Railway lines and airports need more security

It is clear that critical infrastructure such as railway lines or airports needs to be protected more than ever. Deutsche Bahn has significantly increased its security measures. There are 10,000 cameras in around 800 locations on the route network, 2,000 more than before. More than 50,000 cameras have been installed on the S-Bahn trains operated by the railway, the railway has 4,500 security guards and is continuing to expand its security staff. “We have to be clear that unfortunately times are getting more difficult.”

(EMW)