Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is considering ousting the head of the country’s cybersecurity agency after an investigation by public broadcaster ZDF because he cultivated too close ties to Russian state-linked groups, local media report.
Arne Schönbohm, the head of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), founded an industry group called the Cyber Security Council in 2012, which, according to national media, has been compromised by Russian interests.
“It is being examined how a rapid change of president can be achieved,” the newspaper Bild said Faeser told a source close to the minister. News magazine Der Spiegel confirmed the minister wants to remove Schönbohm, citing “government circles.”
The issue prompting the government’s intervention is that the Cyber Security Council Germany, an industry association Schönbohm founded in 2012 and chaired until he became head of the BSI in 2016, is prone to espionage and influence of Russian firms and even Moscow’s intelligence agencies, ZDF’s show Magazin Royale said in a report that aired October 7.
One member company of the association, Protelion, offered IT-security software to German companies and politicians as “Made in Germany” while in fact the software came from the Russian company “Infotecs,” which was founded by a former member of the Soviet-era security service KGB.
In a statement, the Cyber Security Council Germany called the accusations of Russian interference “absurd.” It said Protelion and Infotecs only got involved in the association in June 2020 and “since then, there have been neither discussions nor joint projects with representatives of the company.”
ZDF’s Magazine Royale — the German equivalent of the Daily Show — also found a 2019 interview with the current president of the Cyber Security Council Germany, Hans-Wilhelm Dünn, in which he said “it’s important to keep communication with all relevant players, and of course with Russia, with China, and with other states” when it comes to cybersecurity, adding, “with all relevant players, which includes the intelligence services.”
Schönbohm in 2019 had forbidden the employees of his authority to participate in events of this association but still attended the association’s 10-year anniversary event on September 9 himself. Faeser’s ministry approved Schönbohm’s attendance prior to him going, Business Insider reported.
Schönbohm has led the BSI since 2016. He faced criticism for his lack of competence in cybersecurity from opposition members of parliament even before his appointment. The BSI deals with cyberattacks and network protection and has a key role in Germany’s new cybersecurity agenda.
The BSI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
