Challenges of Modern Cyber Security: Germany's Institutional and Legal Responses

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the German concept of cyber security and its institutional and legislative content. The latest "smart" systems and technologies that underpin everyday life, such as power grids, air traffic control systems, satellites, medical technology, industrial plants and traffic lights, are connected to the Internet and thus potentially vulnerable to unauthorized remote interference. Ways of countering information threats and risks in different countries are formed in different ways.

The article analyzes the legislative cyber initiatives of the German government during the last decades. German legislation tries to take into account changes in the cyber, geopolitical and technological landscape (the emergence of big data analytics, autonomous systems, reliable industrial control systems, cyber-physical systems and the "Internet of Things", "intelligent city" technologies, automated system verification) and create an effective cyber security system, whose creation of products, systems and services are "secure by default". It was established that a unique feature of the German legislation is the definition of the category of "important" objects that require protection next to critical infrastructure objects.

It was noted that Germany's cyber security strategy uses a non-military approach, does not propose the inclusion of cyber structures of the Bundeswehr in the National Response Center or the National Cyber Security Council, does not consider the possibility of conducting preemptive offensive cyber operations. It can be considered proven that the further expansion of the tools at the disposal of the German government and the military to work in the cyber sphere remain limited by strict legal regulations.

The authors believe that it is indisputable that Germany, thanks to its various efforts in the legal, technological and industrial spheres, and the continuous improvement of policies, regulations and legislation, is currently ready to overcome the challenges and threats inherent in the cyber sphere. It was concluded that the far-sighted nature of legislative efforts makes Germany one of the leaders in the EU and on the world stage in matters of cyber security.