- Espionage in research - high level of risk
Hessian research institutions remain in the focus of foreign intelligence services, according to the state government's assessment. "The threat persists at a consistently high level," the Ministry of the Interior in Wiesbaden stated in response to a minor inquiry from the AfD fraction. As a location for science and research, Hesse plays a special role, making espionage a consistently high risk.
Espionage to boost innovation
And which research fields are particularly attractive to spies? The Hessian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution shares the assessment of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution regarding particularly endangered areas. These are fields that are particularly interesting for strengthening the innovative power of other states. These include, among others, energy efficiency and electromobility, information and communication technologies, automation and robotics, electrical installations, or biomedicine.
Science underestimates espionage threat
The Federal Office repeatedly points out the nationwide espionage threat in science and research by foreign intelligence services. "They use various methods to obtain know-how and information," it says in an information sheet from 2022. They also try to obtain research results through guest students and guest researchers. Furthermore, research institutions could become targets of state-sponsored cyber attacks to obtain sensitive research data.
The primary goal of scientific espionage is to obtain information to gain a knowledge advantage or to fill existing knowledge gaps. "State actors draw on extensive personnel and financial resources and act deliberately, skillfully, and long-term oriented," the Federal Office says. In contrast, there is a scientific landscape in which the threat of espionage is sometimes still insufficiently taken into account.
Given the high-level threat, the Hessian State Government must collaborate closely with the Office of the State for the Protection of the Constitution.
The concern over scientific espionage is not limited to Hesse; various federal offices have issued similar warnings, emphasizing the need for all research institutions to strengthen their security measures.
