The fact that the company has appeared several times under its former name Infotecs GmbH as part of the foreign trade fair program sponsored by the Ministry of Economics is causing irritation, although there have been warnings of possible connections to Russian secret service circles.
The domestic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Manuel Höferlin, told the Handelsblatt: “The Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Ministry of the Interior must disclose how Protelion GmbH was funded with federal funds for trade fair appearances and why there was no immediate exclusion after information from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Association IT security TeleTrust gave.”
The deputy leader of the Union parliamentary group, Andrea Lindholz (CSU), also finds clear words. “The actions of the federal government around the company Protelion and the association Cyber-Sicherheitsrat Deutschland eV must be completely clarified,” Lindholz told the Handelsblatt. “All the facts must be on the table, who knew what when and how acted – or just didn’t act.”
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Infotecs GmbH is a subsidiary of the Russian cybersecurity company OAOInfotecs. According to the research network Policy Network Analytics, this company was founded by a former employee of the Russian intelligence service KGB, who was awarded a medal of honor by Russian President Vladimir Putin for his work.
Information from the IT Federal Association
In March, the German IT security association TeleTrust pointed out to the Ministry of Economics that the company was related to the KGB and that US security authorities had warned against using the Protelion software. The “Wirtschaftswoche” had first reported on it.
>> Read here: Teamviewer, Eon, Vattenfall – Several member companies are moving away from the controversial Cyber Security Council Association
TeleTrust Managing Director Holger Mühlbauer told Handelsblatt that the notification to the ministry and the Auma trade fair association was made on March 23, 2022. The trade fair association organizes joint stands for German exhibitors abroad, for which the federal government pays more than 40 million euros in funding every year.
“We suggested that the Ministry of Economic Affairs consult the Ministry of the Interior and the BSI, which seemed obvious on this subject,” Mühlbauer continued. The reason was that Infotecs GmbH took part in the official joint booth of German companies, the so-called “German Pavilion”, at the Gisec IT security trade fair in Dubai from March 21 to 23, 2022.
Infotecs (Protelion) was previously present at Gisec – from May 31, 2021 to June 2, 2021. And a few months later also at a German joint exhibition stand at the Adipec energy trade fair in Abu Dhabi (November 15, 2021 to November 18, 2021 ).
Despite the indications of possible connections to Russia, according to “Wirtschaftswoche”, it took around six months before the government decided in September 2022 to exclude the dubious software company from further federal funding for trade fair appearances. Neither the Ministry of Economic Affairs nor the Ministry of the Interior initially gave a statement.
Concern about cyber security in Germany
The fact that there has also been no official warning about Protelion products could raise further questions. Because there were probably tips from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution about at least one problematic product.
As the ARD political magazine “Kontraste” and “Zeit Online” report, the BSI only ended the certification process for the Protelion software “ViPNet Crypto Core 2.0” after intervention by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. A previous warning from the German domestic secret service is said not to have caused the BSI to reject the certification of the software. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution explained to the Handelsblatt that they did not comment “on any operational measures”.
>> Read also: According to the ZDF report – will the BSI boss be recalled now?
According to “Zeit Online”, Protelion explained that stopping the certification process was a “political decision” by the Ministry of the Interior. The Russian secret service was not involved in the development of the encryption algorithms.
Protelion’s previous membership in the “Cyber Security Council Germany eV” is one of the reasons why BSI boss Schönbohm has gotten into trouble in the past few days. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) wants to recall Schönbohm from his post.
The FDP domestic politician Höferlin is concerned about the events surrounding cyber security in Germany. “It is important that the BSI remains able to act, regardless of Mr. Schönbohm’s role,” he said. “It must not come to the paralysis of our most important IT security authority, especially against the background of the current attacks on our critical infrastructure and the high threat posed by Russia to our cyber security.”
It is therefore now time to resolutely press ahead with the structural restructuring of the IT security architecture, as agreed in the coalition agreement. “The BSI must be expanded into a central office that not only advises ministries and other government agencies,” explained Höferlin. Rather, the recommendations of the BSI on cyber security would have to be implemented “mandatory”.
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