What is the BSI as an organisation?
BSI = Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik — the German federal cybersecurity agency, an independent, neutral authority for information security questions, founded 1991 by law.
* The BSI serves four audiences at once — federal government, business, research and ordinary citizens. *
What makes the BSI matter far beyond Germany is that it is a government body that publishes its security guidance free of charge. Where ISO sells its standards for hundreds of euros, the BSI gives away the IT-Grundschutz methodology and its control catalogue — so its frameworks spread widely, and many of its authors also sit on the ISO 27k committees, which is why the BSI and ISO worlds are conceptually so close. The agency serves four distinct audiences at once — government, business, research, and ordinary citizens — which is unusual: it both regulates federal IT and runs consumer-facing advice campaigns.
- Founded 1991 (per Gesetz) as the national IT-security authority for Germany; Sitz: Bonn.
- Independent and neutral — a deliberate stance so its advice isn't seen as serving any vendor.
- Budget (estimated): ~€64 million; Mitarbeiter: >600 (and growing).
- Kunden: Bundesverwaltung (federal administration), Wirtschaft (business), Wissenschaft (research), Bürger (citizens).
The BSI publishes:
- BSI-Standards 200-x (ISMS methodology).
- IT-Grundschutz-Kompendium (baseline control catalogue).
- Lageberichte (annual threat-landscape reports).
- CC Protection Profiles for German government products.
Tip: Switzerland's equivalent is the NCSC (Nationales Zentrum für Cybersicherheit), much smaller. Switzerland's IKT-Minimalstandard comes from BWL (Bundesamt für wirtschaftliche Landesversorgung), not NCSC — historical accident of which department got there first.
Go deeper:
BSI IT-Grundschutz (official overview, EN) — the agency's own portal to its free security methodology and catalogue.- Federal Office for Information Security (Wikipedia) — history, mandate and structure of the BSI at a glance.