A German general trusts a ‘regular’ connection and is intercepted by Russia. This explains how Moscow was able to spread 38 minutes of conversation among high-ranking German armed forces officials, which included references to Taurus missiles (which Ukraine would like to receive), the Kerch Bridge in Crimea as a potential target, and the presence of British soldiers in Ukrainian territory.
The interception that allowed the spread of a conversation between high-ranking German officials on Russian social media was the result of an individual error made by one of the participants in the intercepted discussion, particularly the use of the Webex teleconferencing application from Singapore, which is permitted under certain security conditions. According to German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius in Berlin, it is not the result of a compromise or poor security of Germany’s networks, nor is it the work of a spy.
Russia, he noted, presenting the preliminary findings of an inquiry into what occurred, most certainly captured the call by chance due to pervasive surveillance. Our communication systems have not been compromised,” said Pistorius. “The reason the call could be recorded was an operational error made by an individual.” That specific participant called from Singapore, where a European military Air Show event was taking place, thus making it a target for Russian security service operations.
“So we must assume that access to this conference was a random event as part of a broad and widespread approach,” Pistorius announced “preliminary disciplinary investigations” against the personnel involved, describing it as “a serious error” that “should not have occurred,” but clarified that he had no intention of sacrificing one of his best officers, referring to Air Force Inspector Ingo Gerhartz, who was involved in the Webex conference at ‘Putin’s games’, which he said, “is playing a sinister game.”
According to the minister, the damage to confidentiality is “manageable.” Also, the allies’ trust in Germany remains intact. However, he added, all technological and organizational precautions will be implemented to ensure that such an incident does not occur again.
