ZAC
Central Cybercrime Contact Points (Germany)
Zentrale Ansprechstellen Cybercrime
The Central Cybercrime Contact Points (ZAC) are the police contact points of the German federal and state authorities to which companies and institutions can turn in the event of IT security incidents. They receive incidents, advise and initiate first prosecutorial measures. For the economy they are the direct line to the police in a cyber emergency.
History & facts. The ZAC are closely networked contact points explicitly for commercial enterprises, authorities, associations as well as research and scientific institutions — not for private individuals, who turn to the online police stations. Responsibility depends on the company's registered office or the location of the incident (state ZACs); KRITIS operators and federal institutions turn to the ZAC of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). The BKA's Cybercrime division manages the federal-state network and maintains a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) as a 24/7 unit for first urgent measures in attacks on critical infrastructure or federal institutions.
Outlook & recommendation. In an incident, the ZAC is the right first police contact — in parallel with the regulatory reporting obligations towards the Federal Office for Information Security (Germany) (BSI) (such as under Network and Information Security Directive 2 (NIS2)). Both paths pursue different goals: the ZAC serves prosecution, the BSI report serves threat defence and supervision. It is advisable to record the responsible ZAC together with its contact details in advance in the emergency plan and, in an emergency, to make contact early, with cleanly secured traces. NEOSEC supports customers in serving both the forensic evidence preservation and the parallel reporting chain at the same time.