NextChapter Weekly.com

Every country has established national cyber authorities to help respond to breaches. Your job is to act fast, contain the threat, and report it through official channels. Whether it’s a personal attack or corporate breach, document everything and collaborate with professionals to reduce risk and restore operations. Here’s a detailed, country-specific step-by-step guide to report and escalate a cybersecurity breach in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, including contacts for each country’s national cyber authority.

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🇦🇺 Australia — Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) / ACSC

🔹 Authority: Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC)

🧭 Steps:

1. Immediate containment
   • Disconnect affected systems from the network
   • Preserve logs and evidence (e.g., system logs, emails, file hashes)
2. Report the incident
   • Go to: cyber.gov.au/report
   • Select type (personal, business, government)
3. Contact ACSC for high-severity incidents
   • Call 1300 CYBER1 (1300 292 371)
   • 24/7 Emergency support for government, CI, and critical sectors
4. Follow up
   • Provide incident updates and artifacts as requested
   • Coordinate response plan or forensics if needed

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🇺🇸 United States — CISA, FBI, and Secret Service

🔹 Authorities:

• CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency)
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
• US Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTFs)

🧭 Steps:

1. Initial Response
   • Preserve digital evidence
   • Isolate impacted systems
   • Document incident timeline and impact
2. Report to CISA (Critical Infrastructure, Federal)
   • Submit at: cisa.gov/report
   • Email: central@cisa.gov
   • Call: +1-888-282-0870 (24/7)
3. Report to FBI (all cyber crimes)
   • Go to ic3.gov
   • For ransomware, contact FBI field office directly: FBI contact page
4. Coordinate response with DHS/FBI
   • Prepare IOCs, malware samples, and technical logs

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🇬🇧 United Kingdom — NCSC and Action Fraud

🔹 Authorities:

• NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre)
• Action Fraud (UK Police)

🧭 Steps:

1. Triage the incident
   • Quarantine affected systems
   • Document affected assets and networks
2. Report to Action Fraud (for individuals/businesses)
   • actionfraud.police.uk
   • Call: 0300 123 2040 (Mon–Fri, 8am–8pm)
3. Report to NCSC (for large businesses or critical infrastructure)
   • Via ncsc.gov.uk/report-an-incident
   • For urgent threats, call 03000 200 973
4. Share technical indicators
   • If applicable, contribute to UK threat intelligence (CiSP platform)

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🇩🇪 Germany — BSI and Local Police

🔹 Authorities:

• BSI (Federal Office for Information Security)
• Zentrale Ansprechstelle Cybercrime (ZAC) at the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA)

🧭 Steps:

1. Detect and document
   • Activate your organization’s IT emergency plan
   • Log affected systems and communication
2. Report to BSI (especially for critical infrastructure)
   • Email: cert@bsi.bund.de
   • Phone (BSI CERT-Bund): +49 (0)228 99 9582-5777 (24/7)
   • BSI contact form
3. Report to Police
   • File a criminal complaint online or visit your local ZAC (Cybercrime Contact Office)
   • BKA contact: cybercrime@bka.bund.de
4. Engage with BSI for mitigation
   • Submit IOCs and malware samples if available

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📌 Key Tips for All Countries

Best Practice	Description
💾 Preserve Evidence	Never wipe infected systems before forensic teams can analyze them
🕒 Log Everything	Time, source IPs, files modified, user activity
🔐 Limit Spread	Isolate network segments and revoke compromised credentials immediately
🧠 Have a Breach Plan	Ideally, have an Incident Response Playbook in place
📞 Engage Experts Early	Time is critical — the sooner you report, the better the mitigation outcome

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🧾 Again, your job is to act fast, contain the threat, and report it through official channels.