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German cyber security watchdog issues ransomware warning

The president of the Federal Office for Information Security Arne Schönbohm issued a warning over growing ransomware and malware risks.

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Fri, 22 Oct 2021
German cyber security watchdog issues ransomware warning
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President of the Federal Office for Information Security Arne Schönbohm issued a warning over growing ransomware and malware risks in the country, with 144 million new iterations of malware detected over the last financial year.

According to media outlet DW, the Federal Office for Information Security identified 553,000 different strains of malware in a single day earlier in the year.

Schönbohm placed the blame squarely on the sophistication of cyber criminals.

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The announcement comes as spokesperson for the German government accused Russia of coordinating a cyber attack on the country’s Parliament.

"The German government has reliable information according to which ghost writer activities can be attributed to cyber protagonists of the Russian state or Russia's GRU military intelligence (service)," a spokesperson for the German government said.

While little is yet known about the operation, the attack comes as Germany heads to the polls this month to elect a new federal government, with media outlets drawing comparisons to a similar series of attacks in 2015.

In 2015, Russia was accused of attacking government computer networks ahead of Germany’s 2015 federal election, which saw the theft of government data including the email accounts of leading government members. The attack prompted EU to place sanctions against Russia in 2020.

[Related: German government accuses Russia of Parliament hack]

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