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Germany Plans Law to Let Security Agencies Disable Overseas Servers During Cyberattacks

He portrays the step as defensive, ruling out a Basic Law change.

Overview

  • Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt says his ministry is drafting legislation to allow federal security agencies to neutralize attacker infrastructure outside Germany to stop ongoing or imminent attacks.
  • He stresses the actions would be limited to defensive countermeasures rather than offensive hackbacks, targeting servers or digital systems used to execute the attack.
  • A cabinet-ready draft is planned for next year, with Dobrindt arguing existing federal authorities provide sufficient legal footing despite danger prevention typically falling to the Länder.
  • Dobrindt cites Russia as a major source of hostile activity and says attacks are increasingly traced to China, underscoring what he describes as a persistent hybrid threat landscape.
  • Green party deputy Konstantin von Notz welcomes debate on expanded powers but demands a legally sound framework addressing attribution, while criticizing the Union for years of blocking broader IT-security reforms.