Foreign IT of the Federal Foreign Office and ZenDiS cooperate on secure software for the administration

PLAIN and openDesk launch joint container hardening on openCode

Bochum/Berlin, September 25, 2025 - The Foreign Office's (AA) IT abroad and the Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration (ZenDiS) are launching a forward-looking cooperation to strengthen Germany's digital sovereignty: the aim is to build an ecosystem of secure basic components for the administration's software development. ZenDiS will start with the office and collaboration suite openDesk and Auslands-IT with the data and AI platform PLAIN. Hardened base components (container images) are to be created for both, which will be made available on opencode.de for subsequent use by the administration. This will reduce security-related testing efforts through automation and collaboration, reduce dependencies and increase efficiency in modern software development.

The hardened containers will meet the requirements of the German Administrative Cloud Strategy (DVS) and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) for the security of digital solutions and cloud infrastructure in an automated and auditable manner. The project starts on October 1. Continuous hardened container images will be made available from November. The Federal Foreign Office's IT abroad and ZenDiS would like to attract further partners to the ecosystem and invite them to actively participate. The long-term common goal is to establish a broad hardened container landscape for public administration on opencode.de.

New challenge: secure operation of cloud technologies

Digital administration is increasingly relying on cloud technology. The German Administration Cloud Strategy and the Cyber Resilience Act have created requirements for operating cloud solutions securely and transparently. Their "building blocks", so-called software containers, must be demonstrably secure. In technical jargon: containers must be hardened on an ongoing basis, as new vulnerabilities are discovered every day and therefore pose ongoing security risks. Up to now, this process has mainly taken place under the resource-intensive direction of the respective deployer or through external service providers who offer hardened containers as a product.

The foreign IT department of the Federal Foreign Office and ZenDiS want to change this: "We are building a pool of well-documented and tested containers for public administration. Such an infrastructure is part of the foundation of a digitally sovereign state," says Alexander Pockrandt, Managing Director of ZenDiS. In future, hardening will take place centrally on the openCode.de platform through an automated process, will be based on market standards and will be available as open source for the administration.

Hans-Christian Mangelsdorf, Chief Data Scientist and PLAIN Program Manager at the Federal Foreign Office, underlines the importance of the cooperation for PLAIN, the federal government's data and AI platform: "With the central availability of secure container images on openCode.de, we are offering the large PLAIN community decisive added value and ensuring that the development of data and AI applications for the administration on PLAIN will be even easier, more efficient, more secure and more sovereign in the future. This is a major step forward for us and we look forward to taking it together with ZenDiS."

The initial beneficiaries will be openDesk from ZenDiS and PLAIN from the Foreign Office's IT abroad. "openCode makes the public administration's software supply chain secure, resilient and transparent. This brings considerable benefits in terms of efficiency, cost-effectiveness and ultimately digital sovereignty," explains Leonhard Kugler, Head of Platform and Development at ZenDiS.

Further players wanted for the ecosystem

The partners are looking for further players from the public sector who would like to participate and further expand the pool of secure container images on openCode.de. The more partners that have their software containers hardened on openCode.de and make them available to the public sector for reuse, the greater the added value for everyone involved. The aim is to establish an ecosystem of secure components and solutions from which the administration can increasingly use independently and confidently. "We are already practising cross-departmental collaboration on PLAIN and making code, data and applications available for reuse. Digital sovereignty is also teamwork, which is why the cooperation between ZenDiS and foreign IT is intended to be the start of a broad initiative to securely and confidently position the German administration and administrative digitization," says Hans-Christian Mangelsdorf, summarizing the strategic objective of the partnership. Interested parties can contact info@opencode.de or plain-bund@zentrale.auswaertiges-amt.de.

About PLAIN / Foreign Office IT abroad

PLAIN (Platform Analysis and Information System) is the federal government's data and AI platform, developed by the Foreign Office's IT abroad. It offers the administration a sovereign, secure and flexible community cloud solution to efficiently analyze data, use AI applications and collaborate across departments. PLAIN thus creates the basis for evidence-based decisions, relieves employees through automated processes and promotes the shared use of data and applications. The platform is continuously being further developed in close cooperation with the federal government departments and the PLAIN community - as a central building block for a modern, digital and sovereign administration. Further information can be found at www.plain.diplo.de

About ZenDiS

The Center for Digital Sovereignty in Public Administration (ZenDiS) was founded in 2022 by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Home Affairs (BMI). As a competence and service center, ZenDiS supports public administration at federal, state and municipal level in securing its ability to act in the digital space in the long term - above all by eliminating critical dependencies on individual technology providers. To this end, ZenDiS is concentrating on promoting the use of open source software in public administration in the first expansion phase. ZenDiS is a limited liability company and is currently wholly owned by the federal government. A participation of the federal states is in preparation. ZenDiS is based in Bochum.

Contact persons

Lutz Niemeyer
Communications Manager ZenDiS
E-mail: lutz.niemeyer@zendis.de
Phone: +49 151 64677514

Alexandra Haberstroh
Communication & Ecosystem
i. A. Program Office PLAIN at the Federal Foreign Office
E-mail: Alexandra.Haberstroh@opendiplo.de
Phone: +49 160 4761404