The Front line is cross by a Church in the middle of the air base Cologne-Wahn, the soldiers have left the blinds down, Red-Bull-cans on the tables, it has been a couple of sausages, as to 13.42 PM, a woman stands up and calls out: “Watch out! We are under attack!”

Major Bernd chamber Meier comes to it, a small, plump man with a bald head, he wears camo pants, army boots. He looks at the soldier on the shoulder and says: “This is bad. How long they been there?” “We don’t know, this Morning, it was funny, we could not classify, are now on our Firewall.”

“What are you doing now?”

“Probably off, completely re-fitting.”

chamber Meier nods.

The soldiers sitting in front of their monitors, typing long lines of Code on black surfaces.

Kammermeier says: “The boys and girls here are the only unit of the Bundeswehr, which is constantly in war.” They belong to the command Cyber and information room (CIR), digital defense unit of the armed forces. Just take 44 men and women at the international Cyber defence exercise “Locked Shields” in which 23 European Nations and a Team of Nato digital war on each other.

6 trillion dollars of damage by cyber crime

At the word war, we think of tanks, air strikes, artillery and the noise of the volleys of rifle-fire. The war, the chamber of Meier and his comrades to lead, is different. It is a daily war that takes place regardless of Locked Shields, each day, in Digital, and there, on several fronts at the same time, around the clock. Permanently, the Federal Republic of Germany is attacked – and not only the Bundeswehr, also company lead this war against attacks from the Internet, for the provider, policy, somehow, every citizen is not affected, even if he can hear them much.

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Major Bernd chamber Meier (R.) leads the German Team at the cyber exercise “Locked Shields”

©Martina Pump/Bundeswehr

most of The attacks only appear in the statistics, are automatically intercepted. A few, however, have the potential for dramatic damage.

As of 2010, hackers attacked in the Wake of the “Stuxnet”attack several Iranian industrial facilities, and sabotaged the systems. By the end of 2016 took Hacker the power supply of Kiev. Two examples, in which the attacker acted so systematically, had so much time, so a lot of Know-how that experts suggest: only governments can be behind it.

According to a study of the Herjavec group, one of the most recognized IT security service provider in the world, will be the damage caused by cyber crime to 2021 six trillion dollars a year. So far, the Federal Republic remained reasonably be spared, a couple of extortion attempts, a couple of kids rooms hacker.

in the past.

thing is for Sure: The day will come when it caught us. What happens then? The imagination knows no limits. Power outages, massive data leaks, Blackouts, manipulated elections. You can paint the devil on the wall, and you can be sure of is that, Theoretically, the scenario is possible.

How is it, therefore, our security on the Internet? The Federal Republic of digital defense is ready?

chamber Meier smiles wearily, as if he wanted to ask: Where should I start?

attack on the water power

Locked Shields is an Exercise, there is a scenario in which the democratic island state of Berylia is from the aggressive neighboring state Crimsonia threatened. The participants of the Exercise have specially constructed a fictitious digital infrastructure, water and power supply, trading, marine vessels. Each participating Nation is a “Blue Team” that protects a certain part of Berylia forms. The “Red Team” consisting of representatives of all the countries sitting in Tallinn and the “Blue team” permanent. “So,” says Kammermeier, “a very realistic scenario, the find out gives us the opportunity where we are.”

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Michael Böttcher is operated by the Berlin Water for the cyber security responsible

©Philipp von Ditfurth/star

At the end of the two-day Exercise, the Germans will occupy the eighth place, so, as in previous years, also in the midfield to land. “We are quite well, but with us, as everywhere in the area of digital security is still a large pent-up demand.”

While he says this, attacked the berylische water supply, certain chemical parameters exceed the maximum values, the government recommends that its population: Buy only packaged water. A Horror Scenario. And one that tries to prevent Michael Böttcher in Berlin-Friedrich Hagen on a daily basis and quite real.

Cooper is a big man who has tied her hair in a ponytail, a Beard, framing his mouth. On a Thursday in may he is in the Test and development laboratory of the water works Friedrichshagen. Cooper is in the Berliner wasserbetriebe responsible for digital security. He says: “A fence with barbed wire and a porter today for a long time.”

The Berliner wasserbetriebe is the largest water supplier in Germany and thus belong to the so-called Critical infrastructures, in the authorities hands Kritis called, i.e. those installations for the Functioning of a company’s fundamentals: electricity, water, Internet, emergency calls, for example. Cooper goes to a Computer, logs on and shows the Software, with the help of IT the water company is constantly monitored. 18 current incidents in the System, two of them critically. Cooper’s Job is to make the digital infrastructure of the water companies so that the standard attacks are automatically blocked, and the few really dangerous attacks are detected and filtered, to be able to fight them. His strategy: the “onion principle”. “The more important the System, the more relevant the Information is, the deeper the in the security structure. Who ranwill there, will have to overcome many defence mechanisms.”

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Claudia Eckert (l.), explore the digital security of companies, Michael Cyl is testing you

©Astrid Eckert/TU Munich

Böttcher, the System has built in the last twenty years, virtually zero. “As a pastor’s son, I always believe in the Good in people. As a security officer of the water company I got to thinking the worst. Everywhere possible horror scenarios, and not only for us, but for all providers.”

in the Meantime, he and his colleagues of the other Kritis have everything very well under control. The suspension, says he, much to do with the IT security law. Four years ago it was decided by the Bundestag, writes in the operators of large Critical infrastructuren minimum standards in the IT security front. With the law and order in the wild growth had come, says Böttcher. The Problem is that Smaller companies are not covered. to overlook

risks hardly

Cooper leaves the room with the computers and to visit the water works, he wants to do specifically what it is in his Job: the pumping station, which supplies fresh water to the treatment plants. Everything is networked with everything, hundreds of Places to attack and the water supply in the capital, Lahm could be set.

The IT systems, he says, are becoming so complex that the risks are overview from a Single hardly. “A single vulnerability in one of the Thousands of components ranging cyber criminals to in a total system,” says Böttcher. And there is always somewhere a weak. “So the Problem is: If someone has only enough time and money, he comes in anywhere.” And could then put the water supply of the capital to a standstill.

IT security hackers in the USA steal data from well 100 millions of Bank customers, Reuters

His conclusion seems against this Background, it is logical: The crown jewels, so the for the supply of the population with essential parts, can be taken in case of doubt, at any time, completely from the mains and operated analogously. “It doesn’t feel very progressive. A better solution, but there is no,” says Böttcher. In case you have always a mountain of packaged water in stock.

The software analog to this is the gold standard of IT security in the year 2019.

If you don’t think the word “Hacker” in pale, thin boys, cowering in darkened rooms in front of the computer, then Michael Cyl looks, as you would expect a Hacker. He is not a young man, not very tall, you looks at him that he’s doing a lot of sports. Cyl a by the Federal office for information security (BSI) certified penetration tester, so a kind of certified, and paid Hacker: companies hire to his employer’s privacy-Cert in order to test their IT security from the outside. He was a few years ago the 14. Employees of the company – today there are 150. There is obviously a lot to do.

All systems have test gaps

If the Cyl a company, he looks at how far he comes and gives the Client recommendations. “Any gap, I always find,” says Cyl.

He sits in his office in Bremen, with a view to the river Weser. In front of him a stack of reports. What company is it, we are not allowed to write. No company does not want to be in the newspaper, because it has its IT security in the grip. And not a single report on a company does not refer to any defects. A smaller supplier, for example, which is not covered by the IT security law, was passed until Recently, all data unencrypted, get a Hacker as access, it can suction all the information, including access to data. The doors are open to him then.

the Russian secret service cracked a Hacker attack on FSB revealed: the KGB successor wants to control the Internet By Malte Mans

Holt “The bad beginner’s mistake,” says Cyl. “Just in the first Tests, we find something almost always.” It is no longer, today, it is so difficult to protect. It cost just money. “When you invest in the appropriate hardware and Software, a few rules are followed and nothing in the Code of the products changes, you are well protected.”

in the Meantime, an extension of the IT security law in the departmental vote, the requirements for smaller critical infrastructure to be harder, the authorities far-reaching powers not only to repel, but even in systems to penetrate. The criticism of the law is large, the BSI would a “hacker authority,” say privacy advocates.

it is certain, however: the authorities must urgently change something. Who drives with the S-Bahn in the North of Munich, far out, over at the Allianz-Arena and then for a while on fields and cows in the centre of the German cyber defence: the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated security. Claudia Eckert is a Professor and Director of the Institute. You are sitting in your office and says: “in Germany, There are infinitely many cyber authorities, but no single cyber doctrine.” Around 40 authorities on Federal and regional level. The digital vulnerability of the Federal Republic of Germany is also a consequence of federalism.

the cause is determined on a Twitter Account from Scotland Yard cracked dpa

In Germany, says Eckert, a need, a kind of Internet police. Really big companies have the money, and really important, most critical, would be forced by the IT security law, to take care of their cyber security. If, however, a medium-sized company provides somewhere in the region of Swabia, on Saturday to 11.30 a.m. that someone broke into his System and patents reads – then he has no one that he could call and then comes to help him. Apart from private service providers. But that would be expensive and unpopular.

Increasingly murky atmosphere

Claudia Eckert says often: “it makes me a little worry.” In between sets you can hear, that is an understatement. In the course of the conversation Eckert shifted their gaze from the past about the actual state in the future. Your mood is cloudy here, it seems, increasingly.

“the theme of the next years will be artificial intelligence,” she says. The idea of AI is that the algorithm learns continuously, and self-decisions. Anyone who wants to attack AI, the must not attack the System itself. “If I manipulate the data on the basis of the AI’s decisions, the System works still correctly. It hits just the wrong decision.”

soon, the AI will determine key areas of our life – from industry 4.0 to computers, which operate on people. “To make these systems defence capability – that is the task of the next few years,” says Eckert. A task that she is “something of concern”.

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