The proposal to set up the two bodies is contained in the Cyber Security Strategy for Germany white paper recently released by the Federal Ministry of Interior.
The center, which will be set up under the Federal Office for Information Security, will cooperate with the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, as well as federal police, intelligence, and customs agencies. Reports about the establishment of the center surfaced at the end of last year.
The center will analyze cybersecurity incidents and provide recommendations for action to a newly established National Cyber Security Council on a regular basis and in response to specific incidents.
The National Cyber Security Council will be established within the Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology and will be responsible for implementation of the government’s cybersecurity strategy. The council will include representatives from the Federal Chancellery, Federal Foreign Office, a number of key ministries, including interior, defense, economics and technology, justice, finance, and education and research, as well as from the state governments.
The council will coordinate the development and use of “preventive tools and the interdisciplinary cyber security approaches” of the public and the private sector. It will complement and work with IT management at the federal level and the work of the IT Planning Council in the area of cyber security at a political and strategic level, the white paper explained.