This accident does not bode well for security in the country

A cable severed by an excavator shovel on a railway construction site in Hesse paralyzes Lufthansa's IT, which means that Lufthansa jets around the world can no longer take off. The FC Bayern team is stuck in the Seine metropolis after the Champions League victory at Paris Saint-Germain. And at Frankfurt Airport, so many Lufthansa jets are jammed on the ground that there is a risk of overcrowding and the entire hub for approaches has to be closed. Even the airport's website is down, so travelers can't even check the status of their flights or those of their loved ones.

A small grab with a shovel unfolds an absurd leverage effect on air traffic in Germany and worldwide.

On Twitter, the first reaction – what else – is malice. The fact that a digger from Deutsche Bahn paralyzed Germany's largest airline and the country's most important airport with a shovel blow is all too easy a throw-through. As expected, jokes are enjoyed with relish: about the railways, which are promoting the changeover to rail with the excavator. About the last generation that gives the excavator driver the "honorary second sticker on the ribbon". And about Lufthansa's IT systems, which responded to Verdi's announcement of strikes at German airports on Friday: Let's get started.

But the excavator incident in Frankfurt isn't just ridiculous for the thousands upon thousands of stranded airline passengers. It also highlights IT security in Germany.

Since Russia's attack on Ukraine, not a day has gone by without the country's critical infrastructure and its protection being talked about. Air traffic is a central part of this infrastructure. Nevertheless, a digger with a shovel is enough to put the country's most important hub out of action for many hours. How can that be?

The simplest principle of security in IT systems is redundancy. In other words, the principle of the emergency generator, according to which if one system fails, there is always at least a second one that starts up automatically and ensures that the lights don't go out.

The fact that such an incident is possible in the aviation industry, which otherwise – and not without good reason – is so proud of its high safety standards does not bode well for the safety of the rest of the critical infrastructure in the country.

Memories are awakened of climate protectors riding bicycles on the Berlin airport grounds and cut cables on railway lines, with which train traffic can also be paralyzed, it seems, without any problems. Or the hastily installed LNG terminals on the coast, which the government was so proud of that they forgot to even define them as critical infrastructure - with corresponding gaps in protective measures.

If amateurs, copper thieves and a construction worker who is not yet fully awake can penetrate the central nervous system of the German infrastructure at any time, this is like an invitation to scoundrels who really want the country bad. And there are more of them than ever. This is shown by the increasing hacker attacks on companies and government institutions. This is shown by Putin's unmistakable threats against Germany.

The lip service to critical infrastructure must be quickly followed by concrete action. Together with the companies involved, the federal government must check the security of the systems and, where necessary, create redundancies. Principle of emergency generator.

The slightest reproach is to be made on the excavator driver. Maybe you don't have to give the poor devil a superglue medal, he's already made a huge mess. But that it was even possible with a shovelful of bad luck is not his fault. It's a portent.

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