The German Army prepares for cyberwar.

“Defending Germany’s Freedom in Cyber Space” is the new slogan for the German Bundeswehr’s advertising campaign. The campaign’s goal is to raise awareness of the 800 new job openings for soldiers in the information technology (it) sector, as well as 700 job openings for it administrators in the military and civilian sectors. Right now, the Bundeswehr is looking for experts.

Although the Bundeswehr is already Germany’s largest employer of it specialists, with 21,000 occupied positions, it is investing another $4.1 million in advertising campaigns to attract German it experts. This might be a result of the 71 million cyberattacks that were directed against Bundeswehr servers during 2015. Spiegel wrote in March that these cyberattacks caused the Bundeswehr to react: “In the future, the Department of Defense will strike back with its own cyberforce, so it is looking for it professionals” (Trumpet translation throughout).

Defense Minster Ursula von der Leyen saw the need to strengthen the cyber forces last year, announcing in September actions to do so. Süddeutsche Zeitung described her plans as gathering cyber resources from every different sector into one separate military organization. The new organizational sector would be on the same level as the Army, Air Force and Navy. In other words, this new cyber department is equally as important to the safety of the country as the Army.

As these plans were brought to the public’s attention, von der Leyen explained that this new Cyber Command would enable Germany to cooperate on the same level with other nations, such as the United States.

The Bundeswehr’s it department will also work on its offensive cyber skills. The goal is not to merely deal with the consequence of a hacker’s attack, but to completely prevent one. Since 2005, Germany has had 60 IT experts stationed in the Tomburg Caserne in Rheinbach where they practice attacks on foreign systems. This is one of the sectors that will be integrated into the rest of the cyber department.

Although such an increased focus on cyber protection is crucial, there are quite a few critics. Andrej Hunko, a member of parliament of the left, is one of them. He expressed his concerns in a recent ard report published on April 8:

But this could also be problematic because the dividing line between what is defense and protection [of possible safety gaps] and what is an attack on other countries and their infrastructure might [become] blurred. Until this day, in the whole world, cyberattacks never endangered the lives of other people, and this should remain that way.

The report added: “But it is a question whether or not such a development can be stopped.” This lies at the heart and core of the problem. The ability now exists where a war could be won by simply making a nation defenseless through cyberattacks. Many experts agree that a new cold war has begun: And this time it’s a digital race. Germany is trying its best to end up at the head of the race.

Consider what Social Democratic Party politician Reiner Arnold said:

Of course, one needs to keep the possibility open to use offensive cyberattacks in the case of a conflict. But that is a debate that needs to be clarified first in the society, in the parliament and in the legislation. It is not to be thought of as unethical to stop foreign tanks electronically rather than destroying them violently with weapons.

Stopping the opponent’s tanks would leave an attacked country more or less defenseless. Successful cyberattacks could do even more than that. Hackers could have the ability to attack the military servers of an enemy country, preventing it from using its defensive systems. This would prevent another nation from even going to war. The scenario becomes especially dangerous when defense missile systems are prevented from doing their job. It might no longer be important to have the best nuclear bombs but rather to have the best cyber capabilities.

Germany knows this, so it is preparing not only to protect from such an attack but also to lead such an attack. The massive advertisement campaign for IT soldiers and von der Leyen’s preparation for cyberwarfare show the urgency of the matter. History proves that no weapon has been created that was not used—and cyber weaponry is being developed.

Tony Cole, vice president of Global Government at FireEye, told fcw that along with the growing crises in Europe, the U.S. and Germany will “share a lot more data than they used to in the past.” Is that a reasonable step for America to take knowing what Germany has done in the past?

Near the end of World War ii, the allies agreed that Germany should never again be capable of starting a war. But today, Germany is preparing for cyberwarfare and making agreements with the U.S. to share crucial data. For more information about America’s weakness and Germany’s advancements in cyberwarfare, read Gerald Flurry’s article “America’s Achilles Heel—and Germany.”