The “Taurus” wiretapping affair is apparently the result of an individual mistake. According to Minister Pistorius, a participant in the conversation leaked by Russia used an unsafe channel. In principle, the systems are safe.
According to initial investigation results, the so-called “Taurus” wiretapping affair could have occurred due to an individual application error by a participant in the online switching conversation. This is what Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) said.
Accordingly, one of the participants, who dialed in from Singapore, is said to have used an open, unauthorized channel to take part in the circuit conducted via the Webex cloud service. This led to a “data outflow,” said Pistorius.
The minister pointed out that at the time of the conversation the “Singapore Airshow” was taking place in Singapore, an aviation industry trade fair in which “high-ranking military officers from European partner states” also took part. For Russian secret services, such an event was “a hit.” Targeted, comprehensive wiretapping operations were taking place in the area surrounding this trade fair. Pistorius said access to the Webex conference was probably a “random hit as part of a widespread approach.”
However, the initial investigations have shown that it can be ruled out that a Russian spy intervened in the conversation.
Bundeswehr uses Webex with increased security level
According to Pistorius, the investigation into the wiretapping affair is continuing. The devices used would be forensically examined. In addition, a legal review will be carried out to determine whether points were discussed in the conversation that should not have been discussed.
Russian state television published the recording of the confidential telephone conference between high-ranking Bundeswehr officers on the Internet on Friday. In it you can hear Air Force chief Ingo Gerhartz talking to three subordinates about the possible use of German “Taurus” cruise missiles in Ukraine against the Russian attackers.
According to Pistorius, using the Webex cloud service for such a conversation is not unusual. The Bundeswehr uses this service, but a “variant certified for official use” with an increased security level. The service is not hosted abroad, but in the Bundeswehr’s data centers.
Preliminary disciplinary investigations against interview participants
Preliminary disciplinary investigations were initiated against those involved in the leaked conversation. But this is a normal process, emphasized Pistorius. Only after these preliminary investigations will a decision be made about disciplinary proceedings.
Pistorius emphasized that German communications systems were “fundamentally secure” and had not been compromised. The trust in Germany among foreign partners is also unbroken. Everyone is aware that “one hundred percent protection” against such espionage attacks “cannot be guaranteed.”
The SPD politician emphasized again that Germany would “not allow itself to be alarmed” by the wiretapping scandal. Russia is trying to “drive a wedge” between the parties; the hybrid attack is a “perfidious game” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pistorius assured that he would continue to investigate the wiretapping case “consistently and resolutely,” but also “with prudence and determination.”
According to Faeser, protection against espionage has been strengthened
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also sees Russia’s goal behind the wiretapping affair as “discrediting our state, manipulating the formation of opinions and dividing our society.” According to the SPD politician, the German secret services are well equipped to protect themselves against foreign espionage. The SPD politician emphasized to the newspapers of the Funke media group that the SPD politician’s own “protective measures against espionage and disinformation” have been further increased and the counter-espionage efforts at the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution have been significantly strengthened in terms of personnel and technology.
On the sidelines of a visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that “every country, including Germany,” must do everything possible to be “best protected” with regard to its internal security and cybersecurity. “Hybrid warfare” should not be underestimated. The events showed “that the Russian war of aggression is not only waged with bombs, missiles, drones and the worst attacks on the civilian population in Ukraine,” said the Green politician.
Defense Committee will discuss next week
The extent to which German “institutions are prepared for a hybrid attack” will probably be the subject of a special meeting of the Bundestag’s Defense Committee on Monday, as its chairwoman Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann announced in the “Rheinische Post”. By then, more information about the wiretapping affair would be available. Among other things, the Military Counterintelligence Service is investigating how Russia was able to obtain the recording of conversations between high-ranking Bundeswehr officers that was leaked on Friday.
Strack-Zimmermann once again called for decisions to be made about how to deal with the wiretapping affair “with all seriousness, but also sovereignty” – and was aimed primarily at the opposition.
Union is pushing for faster clarification
But the investigation into the wiretapping case is getting off to a slow start for the Union. The special session scheduled for the beginning of next week comes far too late for Thorsten Frei, the Union’s parliamentary manager in the Bundestag. This is “completely inappropriate,” says a letter from the CDU politician to Bundestag President Bärbel Bas, from which the “Rheinische Post” quoted. Instead, the committee must meet this week, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz must also attend the meeting.
The Union is also using the debate to revisit a goal that was already set during the 2021 election campaign: a National Security Council for Germany. “In such crisis cases, he can take over political control,” said the deputy chairman of the Defense Committee, Henning Otte, in the “Rheinische Post”. The CDU politician criticized the need to become even clearer in view of the federal government’s lack of unity in dealing with Russian espionage: While Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of a “serious situation”, Defense Minister Pistorius warned against “falling for Putin”.