Dobrindt wants protective shield against hybrid attacks after drone attack

After the failed drone attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport, Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt expects increasing hybrid attacks and wants to expand their defenses with a protective shield.

“Russia’s hybrid attacks with explosive drones at airports, agents in our cities, cyber attacks on our networks and sabotage of our infrastructure are a daily reality,” said the CSU politician to “Bild am Sonntag”. “These attacks will increase, but we can defend ourselves and protect ourselves.”

Units in strategic cities

According to information from the newspaper, the security plan consists of several key areas. According to this, new, quickly deployable units in the most strategically important cities will be used to fully protect the airspace over critical hubs, airports, train stations and the government district in Berlin from drones. In addition to interception, it is also about defusing drone bombs and explosive devices, it is said.

These strategically important cities include Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Hanover and Cologne.

In the future, the defense against drones should not only be carried out by the federal police and other authorities, but also by companies in the critical infrastructure such as waterworks, electricity providers and defense companies. They should be given legal options to no longer just detect drones, but also to actively repel them.

Protective shield against cyber attacks

In view of hundreds of daily cyber attacks on authorities and companies, a national protective shield (a so-called cyberdome) should be set up. This is a dense network of digital sensors that is intended to detect and intercept attempted attacks by hackers.

At the beginning of August, a drone loaded with explosives was discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport, near which Ukrainian cargo planes were located. The airport is considered a transshipment point for military aid deliveries to Ukraine. The federal government blames Russia for the attempted attack.