Arne Schönbohm had to vacate his post as President of the BSI in autumn, and today Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) presented a successor. The new president of the German IT security authority will be the mathematician Claudia Plattner, who previously worked at the European Central Bank (ECB).
Schönbohm was fired as President of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) in October 2022 because he has connections to an association that is said to have contacts with Russian secret services. However, the dismissal also raised a number of questions. Schönbohm's contacts were known, so the seriousness of the allegations remained controversial. The Federal Ministry of the Interior kept a low profile when it came to inquiries until the end of the year, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported at the end of December.
Schönbohm now has a new position. He has been President of the Federal Academy for Public Administration (BAköV) since January 2nd. The post was even upgraded because Schönbohm is now also the special representative for the modernization of the federal training landscape. In addition, the salary of the BAköV President was adjusted to the previous earnings of the BSI President, according to the report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Successor takes office in troubled times
Claudia Plattner will take up the vacant position at the top of the BSI on July 1, 2023. Until then, she will stay with the ECB. As General Director for Information Systems, she is responsible for cyber security, among other things. It also controls digitization processes and is involved in strategic issues.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior appoints the BSI chair as the higher-level authority. Therefore, it is also Interior Minister Faeser who explains today in view of the personnel: “Ms. Plattner brings the experience and expertise that we need in these particularly challenging times for cyber security.” Together with the new leader, she now wants to “significantly strengthen the BSI “. This affects both digital civil rights and IT security.
Faeser also emphasizes the protection of the critical infrastructure. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been even more focus on it than before. It is feared that Russian services will also attack the German infrastructure. There have already been isolated IT security incidents which, according to the BSI, are related to the Ukraine war.