The Cyber Security Council Germany eV was founded in 2012 by the incumbent BSI President Arne Schönbohm (Federal Office for Information Security). According to ZDF Royal with Jan Böhmermann, the cyber security company Protelion is a member of the association, which is managed by Russia's Infotecs, which in turn was founded in 1991 by Andrey Chapchaev, a former KGB employee. The Protelion protection solutions offered are said to come from Infotecs.
During the last issue of "ZDF Magazin Royale" Jan Böhmermann dedicated part of the show to the point “Cyber Security in Germany”. He presented the registered association “Cyber-Sicherheitsrat Deutschland eV”. This association was founded in 2012 by the acting BSI President Arne Schönbohm and then handed over to Hans-Wilhelm Dünn as the current President of the Cyber Security Council. is a member of the association Protelion, which is managed by Infotecs. According to its own website, Protelion offers secure communication, endpoint security and industrial security - also for KRITIS - with the slogan "Software Made in Germany".
Former KGB employee owns Infotecs / Protelion
Infotecs now only offers a Russian website and sells the products that Protelion offers on its website as “Made in Germany”. (Image: Infotecs).
According to Böhmermann and his research team Network Analytics Policy (Twitter), the German part of Infotecs was only renamed Protelion at the beginning of 2022. Infotecs was founded in 1991 by Andrey Chapchaev, a former KGB employee. He seems to have the best contacts in the Kremlin, since on June 14 he received the Russian “Order of Merit for the Fatherland” by a decree from Vladimir Putin. In his program, Böhmermann asks whether such a constellation might not allow the Infotecs products sold via Protelion to open up a few back doors for the Russian secret service.
Arne Schönbohm congratulates on the 10th anniversary
In his research, Jan Böhmermann also made official inquiries to the BSI, but received only simple answers: "During his time as President of the association 'Cyber-Sicherheitsrat Deutschland e. v' Mr. Schönbohm was not consciously in contact with intelligence services from Russia or other countries." Nevertheless, Böhmermann raises serious allegations against the BSI President Arne Schönbohm, who claims to have had contacts "unconsciously".
Schönbohm still seems to maintain contacts. Only recently did he congratulate the Cyber Security Council Germany eV on its anniversary via Twitter: “Congratulations on your tenth anniversary! You fulfill an important function as a source of inspiration and an exchange platform to create awareness and management attention for the topic of cyber security.”
Politicians react to the research
On other websites, the “ViPNet” product line is listed as Protelion products. However, older links to awards lead to the no longer existing address Infotecs.de.
The topic has already arrived in day-to-day politics and will continue to be hotly debated in the coming weeks. Currently, there are already motions from the Left and Greens to explain the topic in more political detail. After ZDF Royal's contribution and research, some companies will probably start to worry about using Protelion's software products. It will also be exciting to see how BSI President Arne Schönbohm will continue to comment on the subject. After all, it was the BSI and Arne Schönbohm in particular that warned against the use of Russian security software after the Russian attack on Ukraine. As a result, the BSI even explicitly warned against the use of Kaspersky software. They even went to court against the BSI, but lost a few instances.
To the video directly at ZDF.de