Germany to have cyber warfare unit

Dec 29, 2010 |

Reuters

Berlin, Dec. 28: Germany will create a new cyber-warfare defence centre next year to fight off espionage attacks, the German interior ministry said.

“We plan to create a so-called National Cyber-Defense Centre in 2011,” a spokesman told reporters on Monday. “It will work by bundling existing know-how in the area of cyber defence.”

As computer systems become more important to control essential services, from power grids to banking, computerised attacks are seen as becoming as important a part of nations’ arsenals as conventional or nuclear weaponry.

Britain announced a £650 million ($1 billion) programme last month, labeling cyber security a key priority despite broad cuts to government spending, including on defense.

Several Western security experts believe one computer worm, known as Stuxnet, may have been created by a national counterterrorism authority intent on crippling Iran's nuclear program by sabotaging the industrial control system at its atomic energy plant in Bushehr.

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