The Federal Digital Ministry and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) plan to launch an immediate program aimed at fortifying the cybersecurity and cyber resilience of the federal administration. This initiative stems from a classified report produced by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Governmental Modernization (BMDS), as reported by Poltico.
Under this plan, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the federal government is set to receive “concrete operational and cross-departmental measures” later this year. The CISO serves as the primary coordination point for cybersecurity within the federal administration. These measures will enable the office to become more effective in areas such as “detection” “vulnerability scanning” and “hardening of central directory services”. The BMDS will manage the technical oversight of these efforts, according to the report.
Detection refers to the swift identification of cyberattacks and security incidents within the federal IT systems. Vulnerability scans are used to locate security loopholes in networks and software, while hardening central directory services focuses on making critical IT systems significantly more resistant to intrusion.
The immediate program complements CyberGovSecure, an initiative launched by the BSI in early May. CyberGovSecure is a component designed to implement the EU’s NIS-2 Directive. This directive mandates that the federal administration must establish a uniform level of cybersecurity and enhance its resilience against cyber threats. This proactive step comes in the context of a continually volatile threat landscape, with security agencies warning that Germany is a prime target for cyberattacks, particularly state institutions.
