The Point: Thuringia is rolling out IT basic protection across all municipalities after the state government blocked over 24 million emails for security reasons in 2025.
Thuringia aims to strengthen IT security in municipal administrations through comprehensive implementation of IT basic protection. In 2025, the Thuringian state government rejected 24.1 million emails for security reasons; in the first half of 2026, it blocked 7.2 million of 14.9 million incoming emails.
The Thuringian state government classifies the threat situation in the IT field as high. In 2025, the Digital Ministry captured a total of 35.1 million emails. Of these, 24.1 million were centrally rejected, 371,000 were identified as spam, and malware was detected in 63,000 emails. In the first half of 2026, the rate of blocked emails nearly reached half: of 14.9 million incoming emails, 7.2 million were blocked. With 4,174,564 attacks in 2025, there was suspicion of espionage attempts; according to the ministry, these could be detected and repelled.
State Secretary for Digitalization Milen Starke attributes the tense situation to the geopolitical context: the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East are driving factors. Since Germany supports Ukraine, it is a potential target for pro-Russian actors. The state administration itself describes itself as well-positioned in the area of IT security, but emphasizes: “The attacks on our IT systems remain at a high level and are becoming increasingly sophisticated.”
To address these risks, Starke announced the introduction of IT basic protection in all municipal administrations across the state. This is intended to ensure a uniformly high level of security across all municipalities and improve cooperation between state administration and municipalities.
Source: www.it-daily.net · Published 2 August 2026
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