Die Anschläge in New York und Washington am 11

unauthorised persons
, the operator should contact the 
competent local authorities prior to any such attacks 
occurring. 
 
As a general principle, the Länder are also competent here 
with regard to matters concerning hazard control and 
preventive measures and in case of concrete investigations. 
The Federal Police (formerly the Federal Border Police - 
BGS) is the point of contact in matters regarding security 
measures for railway installations, airports and borders. The 
competence for investigations only lies with bodies such as 
the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in isolated cases, 
such as instances of serious computer crime pursuant to 
Section 303b of the German penal code, when “there are 
actual indications that the offence is aimed at a) the internal 
or external security of the Federal Republic of Germany or b) 
security-critical points of vital facilities, the failure or 
destruction of which is likely to entail a substantial threat to 
people’s lives or health, or which are indispensable in order 

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for the community to function.” In special situations, e.g. 
when duly commissioned by political bodies or the Federal 
Public Prosecutor, the BKA is involved in investigations for 
which it is not actually competent according to Section 4 of 
the law on the Federal Criminal Police Office and 
cooperation between federal and state authorities in criminal 
police matters (Federal Criminal Police Act). 
The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is 
concerned specifically with matters of IT security in the 
information society. As the Federation’s central IT security 
service agency, the BSI provides information on risks and 
hazards involved in the use of information technology, 
develops criteria and procedures for assessing and 
evaluating the security of information technology systems 
and advises manufacturers, distributors and users in all 
matters relating to security in the field of information 
technology.

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