South German Newspaper plus
Axel Wochinger (CEO) and Walfried O. Sauer (owner) report on current threats to German arms companies and their suppliers.
There were always threats, but it was about money, not world politics.
Excerpts from the article
The large DAX companies with their own security departments, says Wochinger, "basically know what can happen." The many medium-sized companies are less likely to be aware of this, even though they are the second line of German support for Ukraine. Rheinmetall's tanks also need electronics or air filters, and these things come from smaller suppliers. "They have long been in Putin's sights too, they just don't notice it," says Sauer. "You don't have to put a tank right in front of your door. But barrier up, barrier down, as many companies still do, that is not enough as a security concept."
abstract
Because there are currently many crises in the world and a correspondingly high level of risk, the two men are in demand. They advise companies on all kinds of security issues, from visual protection against industrial spies to hacker attacks to the possible hostage-taking of the CEO. In the Gulf of Aden, the company's specialists have already negotiated with Somali pirates for millions of dollars in ransom for hijacked container ships, and rescued German businessmen from Ukraine in the days after Russia's attack in February 2022. Now German companies also want to know exactly from Walfried Sauer and Axel Wochinger how they can protect not only their factories, but also their bosses.
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