According to BSIG section 3, the BSI (as Germany's federal cyber security agency) can advise and warn the country's state governments with regard to information security and support them in their efforts to secure their information technology and avert threats.

The overall objective of this federal-and-state cooperation is to create a uniformly high level of IT security. In light of the continued advance of digitalisation in administration and the increasing level of networking between federal and state IT structures, this objective is becoming ever more important.

An overview of our partnerships

Within the BSI, structures are maintained at the strategic, advisory and operational levels in order to shape federal-and-state cooperation in the field of IT security.

• The BSI’s Liaison Office maintains relationships with partners at federal, state and security agencies, as well as with many other target groups. Accordingly, the Liaison Office is the first point of contact at the regional level. The expansion of cooperative efforts with the relevant contact persons at state level is an important point of focus for the BSI’s liaison officers.
• The BSI’s Security Consulting unit is the central point of contact for consulting requests made by public administration clients in the context of information security management (ISMS). The Security Consulting for State and Local Government unit provides individual support to state administrations. Individual support is unfortunately not available to local governments on account of their sheer number. Support is, however, provided by a dedicated team of local stakeholders.
• Operational cooperation with state agencies is handled via VerwaltungsCERT-Verbund (VCV). The exchange of information between federal and state CERTs via the VCV enables faster, more effective responses to IT attacks throughout the country. In addition to regular meetings and joint exercises, the provision of mutual support during IT security incidents has also been agreed within the VCV.