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Germany Dismisses Cybersecurity Chief Over Alleged Russian Ties

posted by janrinok on Thursday October 20 2022, @03:53PM   Printer-friendly
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upstart writes:

Germany dismisses cybersecurity chief over alleged Russian ties:

Germany's government has sacked its cybersecurity chief after reports of possible ties with Russian intelligence.

An interior ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that Arne Schoenbohm had been relieved of his duties as president of the Federal Office for Information Security with immediate effect.

Media outlets reported last week that Schoenbohm could have had contacts with people involved with Russian security services through the Cyber Security Council of Germany.

The group brings together experts from public institutions and the private sector, and Schoenbohm co-founded it in 2012. Media reports said one of its members is a German company that is a subsidiary of a Russian cybersecurity firm founded by a former KGB employee.

The group, which describes itself as politically neutral, has rejected such connections as absurd.

Schoenbohm, who had been head of the German cybersecurity agency since 2016, has not commented on the reports so far. There was no immediate word on who would succeed the 53-year-old.

[...] Having said that, the ministry said it would "thoroughly investigate all known accusations".

Germany has in recent years repeatedly accused Russia of cyber espionage attempts.

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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by jb on Friday October 21 2022, @02:12AM (2 children)

    by jb (338) on Friday October 21 2022, @02:12AM (#1277619)

    Schoenbohm could have had contacts with people involved with Russian security services through the Cyber Security Council of Germany.

    This seems rather silly. Surely part of his job description is spying on the Russian security services (as expected attackers)? Expecting him to do that without having any contact with them (not even via an intermediary!) strikes me as more than a little absurd...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2022, @07:50AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2022, @07:50AM (#1277678)

      Something tells me they're not telling us everything, those bastard spies!

    • (Score: 2) by Frosty Piss on Friday October 21 2022, @07:57AM

      by Frosty Piss (4971) on Friday October 21 2022, @07:57AM (#1277680)

      There's probably more to that they haven't released publicly.

  • (Score: 2) by legont on Friday October 21 2022, @03:58PM

    by legont (4179) on Friday October 21 2022, @03:58PM (#1277740)

    On 8 March 2022 the Public Prosecutor General initiated proceedings related to accusations against Schröder of complicity in crimes against humanity due to his role in Russian state-owned corporations.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%C3%B6der [wikipedia.org]

    Former German chancellor "for crimes against humanity", no less. I guess hanging Trump from a tree on the Mall is not that far fetched after all in modern realities.

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
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