Germany - Fed­er­al Min­istry of the In­te­ri­or presents IT se­cu­ri­ty bill

Secure information technology is crucial for every form of digitization and is thus central to the Digital Agenda, the Federal Government’s strategy for advancing digitization in government, society and the economy.

The proposal for a new IT security law is intended to provide the necessary framework for the preventive approach anchored in the Digital Agenda. The Federal Ministry of the Interior on 19 August forwarded its draft bill to the other federal ministries involved for further consultation.

The bill goes beyond the minimum requirements for IT security of critical infrastructures defined in the Coalition Agreement to address the security of systems and public protection in general. The Federal Government wants Germany’s IT systems and digital infrastructure to be the most secure in the world.
After the federal ministries have agreed on the draft, the bill will be thoroughly discussed with stakeholders in business and society in a broad public debate.

The bill includes provisions to achieve the following:

• improving IT security in businesses, in particular critical infrastructures;
• protecting individual IT users with a secure network;
• protecting the IT of the Federal Government and federal agencies ;
• strengthening the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI);
• expanding the investigative authority of the Federal Criminal Police Office in the field of cyber crime.
  
  

Further information is provided here.