Fake News Threatens The German Election

Uploaded on 2025-02-21 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Social Media, TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Artificial Intelligence, GOVERNMENT-National, FREE TO VIEW

Artificial Intelligence (AI) cyber attacks on prominent individuals and organisations may pose a significant threat to the German election. Once obtained, sensitive data can be used in coordinated hack-and-leak operations, in which stolen material, often altered or taken out of context, is released to undermine the credibility of political candidates or parties.

Germany is bracing its defences against cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns, particularly from Russia, as it prepares for coming election on 23rd February.

Germany’s domestic intelligence service (BfV) has established a special task force to counter potential cyber attacks, espionage, sabotage and disinformation campaigns ahead of the upcoming election. “Such key political events can always become the target of undue influence by foreign powers seeking to pursue their strategic goals,” the BfV said in a statement.

The task force will include specialists from the intelligence service, federal and state security authorities, as well as international partners. While the BfV has not provided details on how the task force will operate, it stated that it aims to detect malicious activities as early as possible and prevent threat actors from influencing the elections.

Germany has seen a significant increase in hybrid threats, including disinformation, in recent years and the BfV is warning that disinformation and fake news, cyber attacks, espionage and sabotage should be expected.

The methods used are often similar: false information is published on websites and is spread using fake social media accounts. Social media users can comment on posts and share them in seconds. As soon as the false or misleading information starts to circulate, its authors delete the website where it appeared first. But the disinformation remains and may continue to be shared online, in different forms, for many years.

Unlike the US, voting machines or online voting procedures like those used in other countries, which could be targeted by cyber attacks, are not used in Germany, where voters can cast their ballots in polling stations or by post. Only official ballot papers can be used for postal voting.

Consequently, the BfV believe that the technical measures in place make it impossible to directly influence the final official results of the elections by means of cyber attacks.

However, Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was targeted by a large-scale cyber attack in June 2024 that forced the opposition party to temporarily take parts of its IT infrastructure off-line, while in 2023 the German government accused Russian hacking group called APT28, of being responsible for a cyber attacks on Social Democrats (SPD), including Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

In comment, Craig Watt, a Threat Intelligence Consultant who specialises in strategic and geopolitical intelligence at Quorum Cyber said “Pro-Russian disinformation campaigns will likely capitalise on the political tidal wave that is sweeping across Germany with polls suggesting that the hard-right nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party will become Germany's second largest political force, falling only behind the centre-right CDU/CSU Union parties.

Based on their track record, Pro-Russian influence actors will likely attempt to sway voters in favour of the AfD with the party eager to put an end to supplying defence aid to Ukraine whilst reallocating resources to strengthen Germany's armed forces for protection at home.

With this in mind, the election outcome carries the potential to impact the entire European continent with Berlin being a key power within the NATO alliance currently ranking second, only after the US, as the largest donor of military aid to Ukraine. With the new Republican Party administration shifting focus domestically, any emerging AfD policies will likely contribute to uncertainties surrounding unity within NATO.

It will be critical for the western intelligence community to work together to combat disinformation campaigns that continue to attack the fabric of European democracy whilst preying on European political divisions to influence Western demographics in the direction of NATO-scepticism.”

BfV | DW | BMI | Reuters | Politico | The Record

Image: blackpixel

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