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German Bundeswehr Recruiting Hackers

Posted by timothy on from the blinkenlights-brauch'-das-fingerpoken dept.

bad_alloc writes "Heise.de tells us about the German Bundeswehr's idea of recruiting hackers in order to 'penetrate, manipulate and damage hostile networks.' (Note: The following passage has been translated from German into English: 'The Regiment is stationed in Rheinbach, near Bonn, and consists of several dozen graduates from Bundeswehr universities. They're training at the moment, but the 'hackers in uniforms' are supposed to be operational by next year. This regiment officially belongs to the "Kommando Strategische Aufklärung" (strategic reconnaissance) and is commanded by Brigadier General Friedrich Wilhelm Kriesel. The Bundeswehr has not said anything to this regiment yet.' You can find the full article in German."

10 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. In English by toppromulan · · Score: 3, Informative

    From a handy Google translating robot: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heise.de%2Fnewsticker%2FMedienbericht-Bundeswehr-baut-Cyberwar-Einheit-auf--%2Fmeldung%2F127082&sl=de&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

  2. Re:Is this really news? by Nathrael · · Score: 4, Informative

    NSA hackers don't, but USAF hackers do. The Air Force has it's own "Cyber Command". There even has been an article on /. about that some time ago iirc.

    --
    A good education is a bit like a STD - it makes you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and gives you a desire to spread it.
  3. Re:The German Bundeswehr by aliquis · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundeswehr

  4. Re:The German Bundeswehr by nephridium · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ok I wasn't clear. From Wikipedia: "The Bundeswehr has 200,500 professional soldiers, 55,000 18-25 year-old conscripts who serve for at least nine months under current rules [4], and 2,500 active reservists at any given time." So 20% of the soldiers are still obtained from the "normal" population (and some of them will stay to become professional soldiers).

    --


    And when you gaze long enough into the code, the code will also gaze into you.
  5. Re:That's great and all, but... by Faylone · · Score: 4, Informative

    bundeswehr (who are they? why do I care?)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundeswehr In short, the German army/navy/air force/etc.

  6. Manually translated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Bundeswehr is reportedly assembling a "Cyberwar-Unit", which additionally to protecting the armed forces' IT infrastructure from attacks, is also supposed to scout and manipulate other computers or "adversarial networks". According to information available to the news magazine "Der Spiegel" the troupe consists of several dozen alumni of the universities of the Bundeswehr in computer-sciences and are stationed in Rheinbach near Bonn.

    The "Hackers-in-Uniform", as the Hamburg-based news magazine ["Der Spiegel"] called them, are currently in training and the troupe will be reportedly fully operational the next year. The strictly classified unit is subordinate to the Kommando Strategische Aufklaerung (Strategical Reconnaissance Command) under command of brigadier Friedrich Wilhelm Kriesel

    The Bundeswehr has issued no statement to the report. According to the Grundgesetz [German constitution], the German self-defence forces are prohibited from assuming interior tasks. There are, however, plans to abolish this ban.

    While experts are arguing world-wide, whether the term cyber-war is actually correct, as there are no casualties, there seem to be a consensus, that the defence of such threats is one of the task of the armed forces of a country.
    Regardless, whether in retrospect the cyber-attack on Estland is counted as a war, or not, every nation, which has a substantial IT-infrastructure, is taking the potential threat of cyber-attacks seriously.

    All links are leading to German pages. No guarantees on the accuracy of the translation, especially the military terms.

  7. Re:Sweet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Except during WWII the German armed forces were known as the Wehrmacht, not Bundeswehr.

  8. English version of article. by Dj · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/Report-claims-German-armed-forces-setting-up-cyberwar-unit--/112595

    --
    "You know you want me baby!" - Crow T Robot
  9. Re:That's great and all, but... by Niedi · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'll give it a shot. The page this article is from (heise.de) is probably the closest to a german ./ there is. The original article that is referred to in this text was published in the Spiegel (Translation: mirror), a well-known german magazine.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Spiegel

    The Bundeswehr is said to set up a "Cyberwar unit", which won't only protect the (army's or Germany's, not explicitly stated) own IT-infrastructure but is also supposed to carry out reconnaissance or manipulation "in opposing networks".
    According to information of the Spiegel, the troup is made out of a few dozen computer science alumni of the Bundeswehr's universities.
    According to the Hamburg-based news magazine the "hackers in uniform" are still in training at the moment but should be fully ready next year.
    The top secret (har har) unit is supposedly under the command of the "Kommando Strategische AufklÃrung" (like they said in the ./ article) and is led by the Brigade General (whatever rank that is)Friedrich Wilhelm Kriesel. There haven't been any comments from the Bundeswehr regarding this report. According to the Basic Constitutional Law the German army is not allowed to carry out any functions/missions in the inland (meant is that they may not carry out police or secret service work, etc.... within germany) but there have been plans to abolish that restriction for quite some time.
    While experts are still debating wether a term like Cyberwar is correct since there are neither killings nor injuries in such a war, there seems to be an agreement that the defense against such threats should be one of the duties of a nation's army. And even if the Cyberattack on Estland wasn't termed a "War" afterwards it's true that every state that runs a substantial IT-infrastructure is taking potential threats of cyberattacks seriously.

    Americans mangling up random german words never fail to amuse me ;)

  10. Re:The German Bundeswehr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Jeez, guys, nobody ever saw a WWII movie?

    You haven't, apparently. Otherwise you'd know that it was the Wehrmacht back then, the Bundeswehr came to existence only a decade after the war.