The protection of the constitution sees a risk from Russian IT experts

Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg The President of the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Stephan Kramer, warns of an increased security risk from Russian IT experts in Germany. “We have to assume that the specialists concerned could become the involuntary target of recruitment attempts by the foreign, in this case Russian, intelligence services and thus pose a security risk for the companies themselves and for us as the Federal Republic,” Kramer told the Handelsblatt.

Group CEO Timotheus Höttges announced at the most recent annual general meeting that several hundred employees and their families had been temporarily accommodated in holiday hotels in Antalya, Turkey. In the medium term, they should switch to Telekom locations in Germany and other EU countries.

Office for the protection of the constitution Kramer said: “The companies themselves, but also we in the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, are particularly sensitized in this context and are also in contact with each other in the context of economic protection.”

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The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution recently warned of an increased risk of Russian industrial espionage. The Russian economy is being cut off from know-how and technologies, wrote the Cologne authorities in a “security notice for the economy” published in May. “Therefore there is a risk that there will be more attempts to initiate, especially by employees in branches of industry and research relevant to Russia, also in Germany,” the paper says.

Security politicians are calling for increased protective measures

The Greens domestic politician Konstantin von Notz called for increased security precautions. “The companies should, in cooperation with the security authorities, review protective measures for their own employees and, if necessary, strengthen them again,” said the chairman of the Bundestag’s secret service body to the Handelsblatt. “In the same way, the question of the extent to which security checks must be carried out for personnel who come to Germany and work in particularly sensitive areas must be carried out together.”

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The deputy chairman of the committee, the CDU security expert and foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter, shares the assessment that IT experts from Russia and Belarus in particular can be targeted by Russian intelligence services. “Hybrid influence, including using intelligence methods, characterizes Russia’s approach,” Kiesewetter told the Handelsblatt. Russia has practiced “state terror” in the past.

Deutsche Bank headquarters

In the future, several hundred Russian IT experts from the institute will also work in a new technology center in Berlin.

(Photo: AP)

In Germany, too, there are some people who are susceptible to Russian disinformation and influence, Kiesewetter said. “Therefore, our security authorities must continue to be very vigilant here and, in particular, protect immigrants from Russia or Belarus from possible influence and also reduce the risk of Russia trying to smuggle in agents.”

In the case of Deutsche Bank, there are around 1,500 employees in the institute’s Russian IT center, which is spread across the St. Petersburg and Moscow locations. The bank had offered everyone a job in Germany, and a high three-digit number had shown interest in the offer, an insider told Handelsblatt. A mid-three-digit number of employees have already moved to the bank’s technology center, which is currently being set up in Berlin.

Russian experts were entrusted with strategically important projects at Deutsche Telekom

The bank declined to comment on the job transfer or how it protects itself from employees recruited by Russian authorities. A person familiar with the matter said “security protocols and background checks” are common in such cases, and the institute is already on a “higher alert level” due to the war in Ukraine. The insider did not provide any information as to whether or to what extent the bank was also working with German security authorities.

>> Read also: Espionage war: How Europe is trying to smash the Russian spy network

According to a written statement from the bank, the staff of the new Berlin technology center will “primarily develop applications for the investment bank and the corporate bank and integrate new technologies in these areas”.

Statement of solidarity with Ukraine at Deutsche Telekom headquarters

The group ensured early on that the Russian experts “can continue to work in most scenarios that we can imagine”.

(Photo: imago images/Marc John)

The Russian experts were also involved with strategically important projects at Deutsche Telekom, such as planning fiber optic expansion in Germany or standardizing the Magenta customer apps. According to Handelsblatt information, some of them continued to work from Russia for the time being, despite the closure of the site. At the Annual General Meeting in April, CEO Höttges spoke of 2,000 people – Russian employees and their families – who were currently working from Antalya.

As far as concrete current figures are concerned, which would prove the success of the move offer, Telekom is still keeping a low profile. The offer was “well received,” said a spokesman on request. The process is not over yet.

According to insiders and internal documents, the access rights of Russian employees were temporarily restricted after the start of the war – also to protect them from attempts by secret services to recruit them. The program code they created was therefore checked separately before it was imported. In the meantime, however, these rules have apparently been relaxed for some employees who left the country and received new hardware.

Bitkom: Getting IT experts from Russia and Belarus willing to emigrate to Germany

When asked, Telekom did not answer specific questions about security precautions or checking employees. A spokesman said that “all conceivable threat scenarios” were taken into account in the security assessment and appropriate security measures were initiated. As an operator of critical infrastructure, we are in a “trustworthy” exchange with the responsible federal authorities.

>> Read also: “We are very vulnerable”: Four reasons why companies should fear Russian hackers

The management consultancy Accenture, which specializes in technology issues, had parted with its commitment in Russia via a management buyout, but Accenture had brought specialists and their families to Germany at least in some cases, the Handelsblatt learned from industry circles. Accenture declined to comment.

Constitutional protection officer Kramer considers it “not unusual” that international companies try to keep “highly qualified and valued specialists” or to ensure their security in conflicts and, if necessary, to take them out of the country.

In the present cases, it is about Russian IT specialists “who have been working for the companies for years and have specialist, but also company knowledge that cannot be replaced easily or quickly”. The shortage of skilled workers in the IT sector is well known.

Against this background, the digital industry association Bitkom has now come out in favor of attracting IT specialists from Russia and Belarus who are willing to emigrate to Germany. With regard to possible security risks, the association explained that IT specialists who are willing to immigrate must be subjected to an official security check in each individual case.

Russia sees exodus of IT professionals

The SPD foreign politician Ralf Stegner reacted cautiously to Bitkom’s advance. “In any case, caution is required as far as the intended recruitment and hiring offensive is concerned,” the member of the Bundestag told the Handelsblatt. Stegner considers the intelligence services’ assessment of Russian IT experts to be “certainly justified”. He spoke out in favor of developing security concepts “that better protect our critical infrastructure and companies”.

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According to Bitkom, there are currently 96,000 vacancies for IT experts in Germany. According to experts, the situation on the labor market will continue to deteriorate in the coming years because specialists from the baby boomer cohorts are retiring and probably only every second vacant position can be filled.

At the same time, Russia in particular is experiencing a veritable exodus. Tens of thousands of professionals fled the country after the attack on Ukraine. Against the background of the mass emigration, Russia’s Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov put the need for experts at around 170,000 in June.

According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, employees with Russian nationality are particularly at risk: “Contact can be made completely casually and with a long-term perspective.” Opportunities for this arise, for example, when Russian citizens have to contact diplomatic institutions or authorities in their home country.

“But you can also try to exert pressure on relatives or acquaintances who have stayed in Russia by means of reprisals. In general, the Russian intelligence services do not shy away from methods such as threats and blackmail if necessary.”

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution advises companies and employees to be careful with passwords and company information and to be careful with suspicious e-mails. In particular, newly hired employees with Russian nationality should be warned against attempts by secret services to contact them, and reporting channels for suspicious incidents should also be established.

More: The Office for the Protection of the Constitution warns of espionage attacks from Russia – Interior Minister Faeser threatens Moscow with the consequences

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