Over 70 Million Cyberattacks Target German Military Servers in 2015

The German Defense Ministry reports about over 70 million hacker attacks on the servers of the German armed forces, including included unauthorized or malicious access attempts, with 8.5 million of them posing a high security threat.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Over 70 million hacker attacks on the servers of the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, were recorded by the German Defense Ministry in 2015, local media said Wednesday.

The attacks included unauthorized or malicious access attempts, with 8.5 million of them posing a high security threat, Der Spiegel magazine reported.

In an attempt to counter the cyberthreat, Germany's Defense Ministry defined cyberspace, in 2015, as a battleground alongside land, sea and air. A new digital warfare unit is set to be created this year, with the Defense Ministry planning to hire some 1,500 IT personnel and spend up to 3.6 million euros ($4 million), according to the publication.

NATO is also developing cyberwarfare concepts that go beyond passive defense modes, which will, however, require a legal framework, the magazine said.

The German government has been stepping up its cyberdefense and surveillance capabilities. In 2015, Germany's parliament adopted legislation listing some 2,000 German organizations as critical infrastructure, which are required to ensure minimum information security standards and to notify the Federal Office of Information Security (BSI) of any cyberattacks they encounter.