Building in Bonn

The Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (abbreviated BSI - in English: Federal Office for Information Security) is the German government agency in change of managing computer and communication security for the German government. Its areas of expertise and responsibility include the security of computer applications, critical-infrastructure protection, Internet security, cryptography, counter eavesdropping, certification of security products and the accreditation of security test laboratories. It is located in Bonn and has over 400 employees. Its current president is Dr. Udo Helmbrecht. Politics of Germany takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Federal Chancellor is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The German Lorenz cipher machine, used in World War II for encryption of very high-level general staff messages Cryptography (or cryptology; derived from Greek κρυπτός kryptós hidden, and the verb γράφω gráfo write) is the study of message secrecy. ... Certification, the process of certifying, or a certificate may refer to: Professional certification Product certification Cyber security certification Digital signatures in Public-key cryptography RIAA certification, RIAA Single certification in music, such as Gold or Platinum Film certification, also known as Motion picture rating system See also Accreditation External links... Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany, located about 20 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

BSI's predecessor was the cryptographic department of Germany's foreign intelligence agency (BND). BSI still designs cryptographic algorithms such as the Libelle cipher. BND may stand for: Buy Nothing Day Bundesnachrichtendienst, German intelligence agency Brunei dollar (ISO currency code) Black Nocturnal Darkness, Dutch black metal band This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Libelle is a German cipher system, developed by the Federal Office for Information Security. ...

Similar Agencies

The BSI has a similar role as the

• NSA (United States)
• CESG (United Kingdom)

Contrary to those organizations, the BSI seems to be separate from Germany's signals intelligence, which is part of the military and the foreign intelligence service (BND). However, it is unknown whether there is still some form of informal cooperation between the BSI and the BND. NSA can stand for: National Security Agency of the USA The British Librarys National Sound Archive This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) (previously named the Government Code and Cipher School (GC&CS)) is the main British intelligence service providing signals intelligence (SIGINT). ... SIGINT stands for SIGnals INTelligence, which is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether by radio interception or other means. ... The Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service, BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of the German government, under the control of the Bundeskanzleramt (Federal Chancellery). ...

History

According to various news reports, german signals intelligence comspired with the US' NSA to weaken swiss cryptographic equipment made by Crypto AG. This allegedly allowed western intelligence to read the secret communications of countries like Libya and Iran. Crypto AG is the descendant firm of that founded by A Damm to manufacture cypher rotor machines according to his 1919 Swedish patent. ...

External links

• BSI web site
• English BSI publications