The current reporting on our former member Protelion GmbH is not only occupying CSRD e.V. extensively. Other associations of which the company is a member (Alliance for Cybersecurity (as of 10.10.2022), Bitkom (expulsion April 2022), Federal Association for Critical Infrastructure Protection (inactive since 10.10.2022)) are also confronted with the alleged misconduct of Protelion GmbH and the subsequent reporting.
In recent years, Protelion GmbH has also been patronized by federal ministries, for example through funding in the foreign trade fair program of the Ministry of Economics. In addition, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Home Affairs (BMI) was also informed about the now reported allegations since the spring, as a report by Wirtschaftswoche shows. No information was provided to associations or potential customers by official bodies. Checking complex global shareholder structures or even the code architecture of products is not the responsibility of a privately organized association, but of investigative authorities or intelligence services.
While the BMI had already been informed, we invited the BSI president and association co-founder Arne Schönbohm in the summer when organizing our ceremony for the tenth anniversary of CSRD e.V.. This was reviewed by the BMI over several weeks before the responsible state secretary gave permission for Mr. Schönbohm to participate.
Together with all the players involved, we must now work through and evaluate the events surrounding Protelion GmbH in order to position the issue of cybersecurity in society as a whole in such a way that similar cases can be avoided in the future. CSRD e.V. will contribute to this by reorganizing processes, revising the admission of new members and applying the criteria to existing members.
V.i.S.d.P.: Hans-Wilhelm Dünn, Präsident, Cyber-Sicherheitsrat Deutschland e.V.