The FPÖ and its security spokesperson Gernot Darmann are critical of the Ministry of the Interior’s (BMI) handling of the recently revealed cyberattack on the IT infrastructure.
“The cyber scandal in the Ministry of the Interior is also a huge cover-up scandal,” it was stated in a release on Sunday. For weeks, attempts were made to keep the incidents secret. For Darmann, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) is therefore “finally ready to resign.” The ÖVP defended itself against the accusations.
The BMI failed to eliminate the attack internally without shutting down systems, according to Darmann: “Precisely for this reason, and before the whole thing would have been exposed and reached the public due to large-scale non-functional query systems, Karner was forced to ‘move forward’ with yesterday’s press conference.” The Freedom Party demanded “immediate clarification and comprehensive information for the parliament.” The actual extent of the attack must be disclosed.
ÖVP and SPÖ outraged
ÖVP security spokesperson Ernst Gödl naturally saw the matter differently. “The FPÖ endangers the safety of Austrians and abuses the hacker attack for their cheap conspiracy theories,” he complained via release. “While Interior Minister Gerhard Karner reacted immediately and professionally to protect Austria’s security structures, the FPÖ once again shows its true face: chaos and irresponsibility.” Neither police information systems nor registers or data of citizens were compromised.
In the “conspiracy mania,” the FPÖ was also seen on Sunday by SPÖ security spokesperson Maximilian Köllner. He rejected the attacks against the BMI and the Directorate of State Protection and Intelligence Service (DSN). The FPÖ has repeatedly shown in recent years that it does not want to strengthen but weaken state protection, according to Köllner. “The question arises: Why is the FPÖ so afraid of a strong and independent constitutional protection that it acts so actively against it?” The SPÖ, on the other hand, will continue to advocate for strong, professional, and independent constitutional protection.
Temporary restrictions on accessibility
On Saturday, the Ministry of the Interior announced that it had uncovered a cyberattack several weeks ago. Unauthorized access to the BMI’s mail servers had occurred. The securing of the systems and investigations into the background are ongoing, Karner explained. There may be temporary restrictions on the electronic accessibility of the BMI. The police press releases could not be sent by mail on Saturday. On Sunday, this was possible again, a spokesperson told APA: “All services of the BMI are once again fully available internally and externally.”
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.
