German Interior Ministry sacks Chief of Cyber Security over Russian ties

Europe, News October 20, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

German Interior Ministry fired Chief of Cyber Security Arne Schoenbohm and launched an investigation into his alleged association with Russian cyber security circles.

Schoenbohm had been serving as the Chief of Germany’s Federal Cyber Security Authority (BSI) since 2016. Recently, German media accused him of having close ties with some of the Russian intelligence services. Based on these allegations, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior launched an investigation against him and also notified that he has been relieved from his position as the chief of cyber security.

The issue was first raised by the host of Germany’s famous late-night show Jan Böhmermann. Later on, many other media outlets started putting out investigative pieces about Schoenbohm’s history and his association with the members of Russian intelligence.

Before serving as the Chief of BSI, Schoenbohm co-founded a privately owned consultancy firm called Cyber Security Council. Despite being the Chief of BSI, Schoenbohm was still actively working for the Cyber Security Council. He attended their 10th-anniversary celebrations in September this year.

Schoenbohm’s Cyber Security Council has a leading firm member called Protelion GmbH, which is reportedly backed by Russian cyber company Infotecs. “Russian agents use Infotecs, which sells security software to German companies in Germany under the name Protelion GmbH,” Böhmermann said during his show as he uncovered the story during his late-night show called ZDF Magazin Royale.

Infotecs was reportedly founded by an ex-KGB officer Andrey Chapchaev, who is also a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Upon further investigation, German Marshall Fund fellow Jessica Berlin highlighted that since Protelion’s software is baked into Germany’s cybersecurity system, any vulnerabilities discovered by the firm can questionably be visible to Russian intelligence.

*^{President of the Federal Office for Information Security Arne Schoenbohm attends a press conference in Bonn, Germany on August 8, 2022. (Image Credit: AP/via DailySabah)}*

Soon after the story surfaced in the media Cyber Security Council removed Protelion from its portfolio. The consultancy protested that they did know about Protelion’s alleged ties to Russian intelligence services.

The head of the consultancy firm Hans-Wilhelm Dunn released a statement saying that “we support the efforts of government agencies to clarify the role of Protelion GmbH in order to be able to assess the extent to which there was actually an attempt to exert influence.” He dismissed accusations of being influenced by any Russian agency.

A spokesperson for Federal Minister of the Interior and Community Nancy Faeser confirmed that Schönbohm has been sacked from his duties as a response to the recent reports. Faeser said that “The background to this is not least the allegations revealed and widely discussed in the media.”

The German Interior Minister’s spokesperson further added that “necessary public trust in the neutrality and impartiality of his leadership as president of the most important German cybersecurity agency has been damaged.”