Germany’s Cybersecurity Architecture

Cybersecurity has become a central component of German domestic and foreign policy as well as security and defense policy. In the process, a dense network of actors with numerous interconnections at the national and international level has emerged over time. As part of our work on cybersecurity policy, we continuously map this complex ecosystem and seek to make it easier to understand. We are convinced that a comprehensive overview of the actor landscape is an important prerequisite for a smart, structured, and sustainable cybersecurity policy. 

For this reason, we issue our publication “Germany’s Cybersecurity Architecture” twice a year, including an interactive visualization. It is aimed at both experts working cybersecurity and the interested public. Once a year, it is also published in English translation.

Our publication  not only provides information on relevant actors at the local, state, federal state, and international levels, but also categorizes them and explains how they relate to each other. Tables at the beginning of each level chapter also provide an overview of relevant policy and legal documents (e.g. legislation, strategies, or conventions) in the field of cyber and IT security. 

A country’s cybersecurity architecture is understood to include all actors – government agencies, platforms, organizations, etc. – that are part of the national and international ecosystem according to the national definition of cybersecurity. In this publication, only governmental and directly related actors are listed. 

Until the publication of the spring-edition, additions or corrections to the current version will be published in a kind of bug tracker at the bottom of this page.

Below, the visualization can also be accessed in an interactive format created by Anna Semenova and Pegah Maham (Data Science Unit of SNV).

A short guide on its usage and features can be found here.

Earlier editions can be retrieved accordingly: 

10th edition (German): May 2023.
9th edition (German / English): September 2022.
8th edition (German): April 2022. 
7th edition  (German / English): October/December 2021. 
6th edition (German / English): April 2021. 
5th edition (German): October 2020. 
4th edition (German): March 2020. 
3rd edition (German): November 2019.
2nd edition (German): April 2019. 
1st edition (German): July 2018.

Bug tracker