Germany warns of potential cyber threats from Russia ahead of snap election

Germany must prepare for potential cybersecurity threats ahead of an upcoming federal election, its interior minister said Tuesday.

“We need to protect our democracy in the digital space,” Nancy Faeser said in a statement. “We must be especially prepared against threats like hacker attacks, manipulation, and disinformation." Faeser singled out threats originating in Russia.

Germany will hold a snap election on February 23 following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition last week. The election date is a compromise between the opposition conservatives, who favored a January vote, and Scholz, who argued for mid-March.

The Interior Ministry reported that, although no significant cybersecurity incidents occurred within Germany during the European Union and state elections, the country has heightened its vigilance ahead of the upcoming national election.

“The cybersecurity situation remains tense. But at the same time, we see that resilience against attacks is increasing,” Faeser said.

Staat, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft stellen sich stärker als bisher auf Bedrohungen im Cyberraum ein und haben die #Resilienz erhöht. Das sei absolut notwendig, erklärt Ministerin @NancyFaeser. Auch im Hinblick auf die anstehende Bundestagswahl. #BSILagebericht pic.twitter.com/pwP1ED4IcA

— Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat (@BMI_Bund) November 12, 2024

Faeser’s remarks coincide with a report released Tuesday by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), which reported the number of malware variants targeting German systems has increased by 26% over the past year.

Researchers identified at least 22 state-sponsored hacker groups that are conducting cyber espionage against German public authorities and private businesses. For example, the China-linked APT15 and Russia-linked APT29 primarily target government services, while North Korea’s APT43 focuses on research and educational institutions, as well as weapons and ammunition manufacturers.

The number of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks has doubled in the first half of this year, according to the report. These attacks are strategically used “to unsettle people or to achieve propaganda effects in international conflicts,” the BSI stated.

In an earlier interview with Recorded Future News, German cyber ambassador Regine Grienberger confirmed that Germany is observing a steep increase in cyberattacks originating from both state actors and cybercriminals linked to Russia.

Russian ransomware gangs are attacking the country’s private companies as well as public services "basically every day or every week," she said. Kremlin-backed state hackers are also targeting the country’s critical infrastructure and government institutions.

Earlier in June, Germany’s leading opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), was hit by a large-scale cyberattack. In May, the country disclosed a major attack on the Social Democratic Party (SPD) attributed to Russian state-controlled APT28 hackers.