Germany Uplifts Its Cyber Security Ahead Of Future Election

Wide threat means Germany upping its cyber security game against cyber-attacks, disinformation and foreign interference in run up to February 2025 election.

Ahead of the snap federal election in Germany on Feb. 23, 2025, and upping its efforts to protect the integrity of its democratic process, Germany is boosting its cyber security and targeting some of the root causes of cyber-attacks. It’s become a lot more vulnerable to attacks from foreign actors, and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser noted that the country needs to protect itself against cyber threats.

Faeser warned about the risk of cyber-attacks, disinformation and manipulation, and wrote on social media that 'we have to ensure, first and foremost, that our democracy is defended in the digital world beyond the approaching election, and it must not be left to chance'.  Still under cyber-attack, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed up cyber espionage and cyber interference.

Germany's BSI reported that attackers are targeting public and private sectors, highlighting firewall and VPN vulnerabilities. The government enacted new IT security laws mandating companies to bolster cyber security and report incidents, addressing disinformation and hacking threats ahead of upcoming elections.

Yet there is no evidence of major disinformation campaigns during Germany’s last election in 2021 but issues with mail in ballots and election fraud went round once again, according to French think tank Institut Montaigne.

They threaten at a moment when the German government is increasingly focusing on cyber security in both the protection of the electoral process and national security in that same space.