Some will recall that last summer President Trump announced the promotion to Unified Combatant Command of USCYBERCOM, giving the maximum possible recognition to the new combat dimension: cyberspace.
We have also seen how the rest of the world is moving towards a reorganization that takes into account new and increased threats, both proceeding with the drafting of national policy documents (this is the case with the cyber strategy documents of China, Japan, Russia and Italy somehow we have dealt with it ...) either by tightening partnerships or by proceeding with the organizational changes necessary to face the new trends.
But what is Germany doing?
Last year was the news that Germany appointed the first general in charge of the Cyber sector. This is General Ludwig Ruediger Leinhos, appointed commander of the "Kommando Cyber und Informationsraum - KdoCIR" as of April 1, 2017.
The Cyber command should reach the Final Operational Capability (FOC) in the 2021, but given the continued growth of the threat it is likely that Germany will speed up its plans.
Official data speak of more than 300.000 cyber attacks against Germany in the 2017 year alone. In favor of the possible change of pace for the achievement of the FOC also plays the recent massive attack last March 2018, when the internal government networks (IVBB) were the subject of a massive cyber attack attributed in various ways to the hacker group known as Snake or to the best known pro-Russian Fancy Bear, but to date there are no certainties.
Some brief considerations ...
- The German cyber command is not a toy. 2017 billions of euros were invested in the 2,6 year alone, and Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said that many more funds will be needed to attract the brightest minds in the industry. This makes us understand how useless are those simple exercises of thought that we are accustomed to that normally conclude with statements like: "without additional burdens for the state". In Germany it seems that they have a clear understanding of the costs to be incurred in order to have an efficient and effective organization, in fact the creation of the new organization is based on economic and personnel investments.
- The German military sector could apply for 41,5 billions of euros in the 2019, with an increase of 12 percent compared to the current year. This means an investment above 1% of GDP.
- Every year the Ministry of Defense needs about 70 specialists every year for the sector and has instituted a course at the Bundeswehr University of Munich. This will allow, together with other forms of recruitment, to reach the number of 15.000 cyber soldiers expected for the 2021. It will then be necessary to understand how to keep cyber soldiers "young" and how to ensure their loyalty.
To learn more:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/we-ll-fight-them-on-the-int...
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/06/germany-cybera...
https://www.bmvg.de/de/aktuelles/staatssekretaer-zimmer-besucht-das-komm...
https://tg24.sky.it/tecnologia/2017/04/05/la-germania-prepara-un-cyber-e...
https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/bundeswehr-erhaelt-cybe...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/01/german-government-intranet....
