BSI status report on IT security: The threat level is high

Back in August, the President of the Federal Office for Information Technology Security (BSI) Arne Schönbohm warned the IT Executive Club of Hamburg@work about the current threat level of Internet crime. Now, together with Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, he presented the annual report on the state of IT security in Germany.

The number of cyber attacks on the state, industry and citizens has risen further and these attacks have become more complex. Criminals continue to develop malware and attack vectors. Known malicious software programs are continually being modified, refined and equipped with additional malicious functions.
Now the hardware, too, poses a new threat: like the security loopholes Spectre/Meltdown and Spectre NG, which cannot be eliminated altogether without exchanging the hardware. 
Meanwhile the digitalization and integration of IT systems, everyday objects and industrial facilities continues, day by day increasing the exposure of the state, industry and society, as well as their dependence on functioning IT systems. This is creating a combination of new-style attacks and growing digitalization that is sharply increasing the level of threat. 
As a new threat, the BSI takes a closer at the issue of illegal crypto mining in its status report. Its high financial attractiveness and the inconspicuousness of infections mean illegal crypto mining needs to be rated as a significantly growing cyber risk.

“The threat level is a daily challenge to us as the national cyber security agency to design and implement new solutions. The status report makes it clear how we have been notably successful with our measures in the areas of prevention, detection and reaction, for example by implementing the Federal Government’s cyber security strategy or the IT Security Act. If we are to maintain our leading position and ‘Made in Germany’ is to retain its brand status including in cyberspace, we cannot afford to stop enhancing the triad of digitalization, integration and speed of innovation with creative and practically relevant products that deliver greater cyber security. That calls for a central cyber security agency such as the BSI, which is suitably equipped with human and financial resources to tackle those challenges,” explained BSI President Arne Schönbohm.

Click here to download the report.

_{Photo credit: Charles Deluvio unsplash}