E It doesn’t have to be a military attack to paralyze entire corners of a big city. All it takes is one attack on them Power supply like at the beginning of January in the south of Berlinwhen 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses, shops and supermarkets had no electricity for days. Even a harsh onset of winter can prevent people from coming to the office, the factory floor or the hospital. Because Not a single train or bus runs. At least that’s how it was a few days ago – and again in Berlin, this time in the north.
The consequences are well known, as are the causes: the so-called critical infrastructure is not adequately protected. The sensitive areas of a modern society include not only energy and water companies as well as the Internet and mobile communications, but also food retailers, beverage producers and bakeries. The federal government has now recognized this and wants to beef up the security of sensitive areas with an “agenda for resilience and more sovereignty”.
This is completely true and should be treated as a priority. Not just because people, offices and supermarkets cannot be without power for days. But because the threats come more from abroad. Warding off cyber attacks, drone espionage and social engineering is now a very complex daily business for security organs. The tricks that enemy secret services use to spy on railway lines, power lines, airports, water reservoirs and even bridges are becoming more sophisticated and perfidious. There needs to be more protection wherever there is a risk of attack from outside.
Now you can’t post security at every power box and federal police around every nuclear facility. However, it would help if, for example, energy lines ran exclusively underground in the future. Such a conversion costs an enormous amount of money – as does security in general. Nevertheless, there will always be areas that offer opportunities for attack. Railway lines, for example, are open.
Beyond state security precautions, the question arises as to whether people shouldn’t prepare a little more. You don’t have to build a bomb shelter in your basement to be reasonably safe in the event of an attack. Even a small supply helps when the supermarket is closed and the train no longer runs. Pasta, tomato sauce, flashlights, candles, water, stuff like that. Security is an issue for which the authorities, but also each and every individual, should feel responsible.