In September 2023, the Internet Security Days (ISDs) once again attracted IT security experts, security managers and user companies to meet together at Phantasialand near Cologne, Germany.  Around 250 participants on each day of the event had a choice of 40 exciting presentations and panel discussions. There were two parallel presentation tracks on four main topics: Achieving the State of the Art, Future Security, Digital Supply Chain Security and Connected Security.

The eco - Association of the Internet Industry has been surveying Germany's IT security experts for over 10 years. In addition to the dominant IT security topics and most important threats, they also assess the ability of German companies to fend off cyberattacks. The IT Security Survey 2024 has now started.

Germans do not adequately back up their photos and videos from family holidays or family celebrations on their smartphones. According to a representative survey of 2,506 Germans conducted by the opinion research institute Civey on behalf of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, only 22.5 per cent use cloud services for storing private media.

Anne Hennig is a Research Associate at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and supervises the INSPECTION research project. At this year’s Internet Security Days (ISD) on 21 and 22 September, she will give a presentation on the project. Together with her colleague Dr Peter Mayer, she explains in an eco interview what INSEPCTION is and why it can be an effective addition to already existing IT security approaches.

Tarek Nemri is an IT Security Consultant at plusserver gmbh, where he advises clients on IT security solutions and the associated processes. At this year’s Internet Security Days, he will give a presentation on “Digitalisation, data sovereignty and the cloud – your chance, surely and securely!” and tells us in an eco interview how cloud services can be important in terms of IT security.

With growing virtual attack surfaces, preventive protection solutions help avoid damage from DDoS attacks or bad bots, says Thomas Wagner of Myra Security. As part of the Internet Security Days (ISD) 2023, he talks about DDoS emergency onboarding.

Whether in the supermarket, restaurant or at the bakery: one in four people hold their mobile phone or smartwatch against the card reader to pay. The latest eco/Civey study shows that the number of mobile payment users has doubled in the last four years.

Realtime Register & eco’s topDNS Initiative recently held a third series of topDNS best practice webinars, showcasing what the domain name industry is doing to fight DNS abuse.

Dr Silvia Knittl is one of the Cyber & Privacy Directors at PwC Germany and leads the Enterprise Security Architects team. She supports clients in activating their cyber capabilities and manages security transformation projects. At this year’s Internet Security Days (ISD), she will be presenting on the Zero Trust approach.

Digital forensics is an important component for cybersecurity because, as ZITiS President Wilfried Karl notes in an eco short interview on ISD 2023, it not only makes cyberspace a safer place. As part of the Internet Security Days (ISD) 2023, he will give a keynote on Digital Sovereignty.

What are the legal requirements for cybersecurity in the IT supply chain? A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) plays an essential role here – it is one of the focus topics in 2023 for the work of the Security Competence Group in the eco Association.

Only those who know their own weaknesses can remedy them. Sebastian Schreiber, Managing Director of SySS GmbH, discusses how to achieve this in an interview and a keynote speech at the Internet Security Days (ISD) 2023.

According to a Civey survey commissioned by eco – Association of the Internet Industry, 29.8 percent of respondents move their workplace outdoors, with 13.2 percent occasionally working away from home and 16.6 percent doing so frequently.

Patrick Koetter, Leader of the Email and Anti-Abuse Competence Groups at eco Association explains how to achieve this in an interview and in a two-day German-language DNSSEC hands-on workshop in September 2023.

Almost every fifth person uses apps for planning hiking tours (22.8 per cent). Just over one out of ten people (11.4 per cent) now also use their mobile phone or smartwatch to pay while on holiday. These are the results of a representative Civey survey commissioned by eco – Association of the Internet Industry at the beginning of the summer holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Health apps are helping an increasing number of people to achieve this goal – through more exercise, improved nutrition, better sleep and more self-care. Almost every third person (31.6 per cent) uses health apps, according to a representative survey of 2,500 Germans conducted by the market and opinion research institute Civey on behalf of eco – Association of the Internet Industry.

Most people in Germany (61.4 per cent) are aware of possible security risks and name security measures to be observed in a Civey survey. 38.6 per cent only want to use devices with security certification, 37.6 per cent say they should change default passwords, and 35.7 per cent do not want to connect some devices to the Internet.

Five years after the General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) came into force on 25 May, most consumers in Germany are making a conscious decision to protect their personal data on the Internet. This is shown by a representative Civey survey commissioned by eco – Association of the Internet Industry.

Many companies underestimate the threat posed by cyber attacks, even though experts believe that the threat is growing – this was the result of the eco IT Security Survey 2023. eco IT Security Survey 2023. As a result, cybersecurity should be a top priority in all companies.

The importance of IT security has never been higher, says SySS founder and Managing Director Sebastian Schreiber. In an eco member interview, he talks about how companies can protect themselves from dangerous ransomware attacks.

The current cybersecurity situation in Germany remains tense, according to the prevailing opinion of IT experts. 93 per cent rate the general threat situation as high or very high, while only about 7 per cent of those participating in the current IT Security Survey by eco – Association of the Internet Industry assume that the threat situation will remain unchanged.

In order to increase the security of software supply chains, a wave of regulation will roll in on the German economy. In an interview, Attorney-at-law Stefan Hessel, Head of Digital Business at Reusch Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, talks about the legal implications for SMEs.

36.6 per cent of Germans back up their most important private data less often than once a year or never. This is according to a survey conducted on World Backup Day on 31 March, the international day of data backup.

Under the motto “Backup to the Future”, the eco Association invites you to the Internet Security Days (ISD) at Phantasialand near Cologne on 20 and 21 September 2023.

The threat situation is growing, say 93 per cent of the IT experts surveyed. 84 per cent of IT security experts believe that the war of aggression against Ukraine has exacerbated the threat situation. These are the results of the eco IT Security Survey 2023. Since 2010, the eco Association has been surveying the mood of the Internet industry about IT security and recently interviewed more than 100 experts from the IT security industry.

Claudia Plattner is to become the new president of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Norbert Pohlmann, eco Board Member for IT Security, congratulates.

When it comes to their online passwords, many people prefer continuity: In a representative Civey survey in Germany commissioned by the eco Association, 37.6 percent say they change their passwords less frequently than once a year.

The directive “for a high common level of cyber security” appeared in the EU Official Journal at the end of December and will enter into force on 16 January 2023. Numerous companies, state-owned enterprises and public authorities will have to comply with new requirements in the area of cyber security. eco Board Member Klaus Landefeld comments.

The eco topDNS Initiative has published an Abuse Table to provide guidance on which cyber threats are considered to abuse the Domain Name System – and which do not.

In early October 2022, US President Biden signed the Executive Order for the planned US-EU Data Privacy Framework. Dr Jens Eckhardt, specialist attorney for IT law at Derra, Meyer & Partner in Dusseldorf and Board member of EuroCloud Deutschland, answers three questions on what this means for future data transfers to the US.