Germany's Merkel warns against cyber attacks on infrastructure

[March 14, 2017]  BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday protecting infrastructure from potential cyber attacks was a top priority and the federal government had to work together with localities on that.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a meeting of the German Association of Local Utilities (VKU - Verband kommunaler Unternehmen) in Berlin, Germany, March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

"Today we have a huge amount of possibilities to paralyze infrastructure from cyber attacks and it is... very very difficult. There are examples from Ukraine that are worrying. Therefore cyber security is of great, great importance," she said.

"The German government has updated its cyber security strategy and we are very happy to work with localities on this," she said in a speech to the VKU association for local infrastructure companies.

(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Joseph Nasr)

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