In brief: The Federal Cabinet wants to allow the BND, via draft legislation, to actively manipulate foreign IT infrastructure, while VATM criticizes unclear cooperation obligations for telecommunications companies.
The Federal Cabinet has introduced a draft law intended to allow the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) to actively manipulate foreign IT infrastructure. The background is the assessed increased threat from espionage and sabotage.
The draft law provides for granting the BND powers for so-called active cyber defense. This would allow the service to no longer act purely defensively, but to intervene specifically in foreign IT systems in order to prevent espionage and sabotage activities against German infrastructure at an early stage. The exact legal design of the intervention powers, as well as the planned oversight mechanisms, are not detailed in the reporting so far.
The Association of Telecommunications and Value-Added Service Providers (VATM) has voiced criticism of the draft. In particular, unclear cooperation obligations that could affect telecommunications companies as a result of the new powers are being criticized. This creates uncertainty for operators of critical infrastructure and telecom providers regarding the scope of possible cooperation or tolerance obligations toward intelligence services.
For CISOs at companies with telecommunications ties or critical infrastructure, this development is relevant because it could create new interfaces between state cyber defense measures and their own IT security organization. Should the draft be passed in its current form, it would need to be clarified what reporting obligations, access rights, or cooperation requirements would specifically apply to affected companies. Until final passage in the further legislative process, it remains to be seen how the points criticized by VATM regarding cooperation obligations will be addressed.
Source: www.security-insider.de · Published August 14, 2026
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