Germany’s 2025 domestic security report notes intelligence agencies shifting from passive defense to active defense amid rising hybrid threats, cyberattacks, and violent extremism.

A new framework would grant graduated powers from basic surveillance to aggressive countermeasures against attackers, including disrupting infrastructure, and, under strict thresholds, hacking into IT systems, copying or deleting data, and disabling cyber tools used by foreign campaigns.

Under predefined conditions, authorities could monitor, hacking into foreign IT systems, and disseminate disinformation to counter ongoing cyber operations.

The reform would authorize active interference, including disrupting attacker infrastructure and spreading misinformation, in addition to traditional intelligence tasks.

Right-wing extremism remains the top domestic threat, with about 28,000 of the AfD's 70,000 members considered potentially extremist, raising concerns about recruitment of younger individuals.

The BND is undergoing a modernization under new leadership to leverage modern technology and take calculated risks, backed by the Chancellor to broaden knowledge access.

The draft law aims to tighten defenses against cyber and hybrid threats by allowing proactive countermeasures, addressing perceived risks from Russia.

The overhaul creates a unified legal framework governing domestic and foreign intelligence for covert online operations, strengthening the response to cyber and hybrid threats.

The reform hardens responses to rising cyber and hybrid threats, especially linked to Russia, by unifying legal bases for covert online actions across domestic and foreign agencies.

A single, cohesive framework will regulate covert online operations for both domestic and foreign intelligence, expanding threat categories.

Authorities call for expanded powers and legislative changes to counter threats from both foreign and domestic actors, emphasizing proactive countermeasures.

Regional vulnerabilities, like Bremen's defense and aerospace infrastructure, face espionage attempts such as drone overflights, with the Cybersecurity Act aiming to reduce online attack surfaces.