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measures within the OSCE framework. Germany regrets that it was not possible to
reach consensus for the adoption of such a first set of confidence-building measures
at the Dublin Ministerial Council in December 2012, but welcomes the fact that the
group resumed its work in 2013.
Germany will continue to actively support OSCE discussions on exploring the
future OSCE role in the field of cyber security.
Military aspects of cyber security
As military forces, too, increasingly rely on information technology to master
ever more complex scenarios at all levels of command, the protection of the
information and the means to process it has become a first order task.
However, in military thinking, information security is challenged not only by a
potential adversary, in an operational understanding, using weaponry for the
physical destruction of information infrastructure, but also by irresponsible users,
malfunctioning technology, criminals or simply accidents.
Hence, the efforts to be undertaken range from awareness-raising of each
single user and securing the trustworthiness of the supply chain for information
technology, to responsive defences to fend off cyber attacks and an overall resilient
information technology architecture.
In essence, a comprehensive risk management is required, with measures to
strengthen information security on a national and global scale.
At an early stage, the German armed forces (Bundeswehr) established resilient
command and control architectures, security techniques and procedures and an
information technology-security organization, encompassing all branches of the
armed forces, and including an independent computer emergency response team
with the capacity to intervene in case of critical disruptions to the operations of
information technology. Adapting personal and technical abilities to the continually
increasing level of threat is a perpetual task.
The German armed forces are collaborating closely with the Federal German
Ministry of the Interior in its efforts and strongly support the strengthening of
information security in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the
European Union and the formation of policies and better coordination of capacities
to this end. Furthermore, the armed forces hold regular exchanges with a number of
countries in the context of information security, both at the policy and working
levels.
The German armed forces welcome initiatives and work together with other
departments of the Federal German Government on international motions to further
protect the utility of worldwide information networks, for example, the development
of a voluntary international code of conduct in cyberspace.
Cyber defence in NATO
Cyber security has been identified by NATO as one of the key emerging
security challenges. The strategic concept adopted by Heads of State and
Government at the NATO summit held in November 2010 in Lisbon, stated that
“cyber attacks ... can reach a threshold that threatens national and Euro-Atlantic
prosperity, security and stability”.
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