Germany’s Cybersecurity Chief faces probe over alleged ties with Russia

Ties with Russia

The head of the BSI agency, Arne Schoenbohm, was a co-founder of a cybersecurity group years ago. The group was focused on bringing together several experts from the private sector and public institutions.

As reported by the German media, one member company was founded by an ex-intelligence agent from Russia. Later, the ministry said that the Interior Ministry would focus on these matters reported over the weekend. The ministry will be investigating them thoroughly.

What does this mean for the country?

People are concerned that their country might be targeted, especially the critical infrastructure by Russia, as Berlin has been actively supporting Ukraine. Earlier, Deutsche Bahn, a German Rail company, was forced to stop cargo and passenger trains for nearly three hours in the northwest area of the country. The reason was given as a display of sabotage.

The company then said after the suspension was over that the digital train radio system was not working and thus had caused the problem. Although this has been solved, some disruptions could still occur.

Cables are essential for handling traffic properly, as per Volker Wissing, the Transport Minister. Despite their important function, they were severed at two different places.

FAQs

1. Who is investigating this incident?
   The federal police of Germany investigated ties with Russian intelligence.
2. What caused the outage?
   As reported later on, sabotage had been behind the outage caused.