The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing rapidly, and everyday objects are more and more connected to the Internet and to other devices. It is increasingly difficult for consumers to judge which devices and services have which security features.

Fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic, experts expect record online retail sales for the 2021 holiday season. Unfortunately, this is also the high season for cyber criminals who lure bargain hunters themselves with fake shops.

The upcoming German federal government plans to produce a surveillance overview bill by the end of 2023 at the latest. This will create an important basis for more transparency on state surveillance powers – a move strongly welcomed by the eco Association.

The world’s leading Internet Exchange operator DE-CIX has been honored in the  Global Carrier Awards 2021 in the categories Best Internet Exchange operator and Best Marketing Campaign.

Prof. Norbert Pohlmann, Board Member for IT security at eco – Association of the Internet Industry comments on the Status Report on IT Security in Germany by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

How is the potential threat from cyber crime growing for the German industry? eco – Association of the Internet Industry has been undertaking surveys among Germany’s IT security experts for more than 10 years.

For the new legislative term, the eco Association sees digital policy priorities in the areas of digital infrastructure, digital education and administration, cybersecurity and consistent data protection on the Internet. The association has formulated core demands and recommendations for action in an Internet Policy Agenda.

As part of the European Cyber Security Month, the eco Association supports the free IT security training for citizens by SoSafe and botfree.

eco's DNS-over-HTTPS whitepaper shows need for action by all providers of Internet infrastructures. The association provides information at the it-sa security trade fair in Nuremberg on potential threats and protection options for the Domain Name System (DNS).

Two parallel thematic tracks full of presentations, discussions and networking on the topic of cyber security: From 16 to 17 September 2021, over 150 security experts and more than 60 speakers met at the second digital ISD in the event tool talque.

The safety test standard ETSI EN 303 645, which was already published in mid-2021, is intended to ensure more uniformity of safety standards for IoT devices, especially on the European market. The test standard is a recommendation to manufacturers and addresses all networked consumer IoT devices, especially in the Smart Home sector.

Last week, the German Federal Cabinet adopted a new cybersecurity strategy for the next five years. It aims to strengthen the protection and IT security of citizens, companies and critical infrastructures.

The number of phishing attacks risescontinuously every year: Employees are particularly exposed to this security risk when working from home. We talk to Marcus Beyer, Security Awareness Officer at Swisscom Switzerland AG.

In the ’new normal’, employees in the home office are more threatened than ever by phishing attacks, says Dr. Niklas Hellemann of SoSafe. As an expert, he will be presenting a multi-layered approach to cybersecurity awareness at ISD 2021. Here are a few tips for companies.

How secure are IT services and technical devices? The IT Security Label is intended to provide consumers with guidance in the future. The BSI gave an overview at a meeting of the eco Competence Group Abuse.

What are the legal implications of IT security incidents and what sensible countermeasures can companies take in advance? In an interview we talk about this with Stefan Hessel , Attorney-at-law at LL.M, who is working as Senior Associate and Co-Head of the Digital Business Unit at reuschlaw Legal Consultants in Saarbrücken.

With many employees working from home, the risk of falling victim to phishing attacks has increased for many companies. eco Association gives 7 tips.

In the eco IT Security Study 2021, 20 percent of the 175 IT security experts stated that their company or their customers had been the target of a ransomware attack at least once in the past year. How will the security situation change in the future due to artificial intelligence, machine learning and mobile working? We talk about this in an interview with Walter Haas, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Huawei Germany.

How can companies deal with ransomware attacks? What is the response to ransomware attacks? We talk about this in an interview with Helmut Brechtken, who is a partner at the Deloitte GmbH and advises companies on digital forensic incident response.

The threat situation for SMEs in Germany is getting worse, say 74 percent of the security experts surveyed in the eco Security Study 2021. Cyber criminals know the common and current security vulnerabilities, for example on email servers, and specifically look for systems that have not yet closed them.

How can a well-constructed Domain Name System (DNS) structure contribute to IT security in healthcare? We talk about this in an interview with Sven-Holger Wabnitz, Senior Advisor at DomiNIC.

The smartphone is our all-time companion, even on holiday at the beach or a lake, and is therefore at risk in many situations. The eco Association gives the mobile users 7 tips to keep in mind in order to prevent unauthorised data access.

Under what conditions do citizens trust in secure, digital identities and systems, such as the digital vaccination card and the electronic identity card? In this interview, we will be talking to the German Federal Data Protection Commissioner Prof. Ulrich Kelber on Self-Sovereign Identities (SSI) and digital business models according to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gold standard. What are the opportunities for companies that offer privacy-compliant products and services?

Holidays at the beach or lake and eternalising shared family experiences via photos – that’s what many people wish for at the moment. But is it really safe to share pictures of children and young people via messenger services or social media platforms? Alexandra Koch-Skiba, Head of the eco Complaints Office, reveals what parents should look out for to ensure that their holiday photos do not lead to any unpleasant surprises.

Summa one of 24 new Gaia-X AISBL Board Members DE-CIX as a blueprint for other Internet Exchange operators Harald A. Summa, CEO of DE-CIX, the operator of the world’s leading Internet Exchange in Frankfurt am Main, was one of 24 people elected to the Gaia-X AISBL Board during the organisation’s first general assembly...

Secure digital identities are a key factor for further digitalisation in Europe, a stronger convergence of the Digital Single Market, and more efficient public administration. In this regard, Prof. Norbert Pohlmann, eco Board Member for IT Security, comments on the update of the eIDAS Regulation by the EU Commission.

Whether it’s vaccination certificates, ID cards, driving licences or school reports: Our everyday life is still too heavily reliant on physical documents, thus inhibiting digitalisation. This is the view expressed in interview by eco Board Member Prof. Norbert Pohlmann. But with Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), processes in public administration, business and society can be massively simplified and many processes can now be digitalised in a trustworthy manner.

An interview with Michel Arres, Vice President Secure Power DACH, from Schneider Electric about market developments and the sustainability potential of data centres. The new environment will be hybrid: There will be cloud data centres, regional data centres, but also edge data centres.

“IT security tests must be implemented as early as possible in software development,” says Sebastian Schäffer, Head of Sales Marketing at Alice&Bob.Company. In this interview, we talk to him about security tests, automation of IT security and the Shift Left in the development process.

The eco Association is highly critical of the fact that the German coalition is apparently ignoring all warnings about the consequences of source telecommunication surveillance and the use of so-called “State Trojans”, and calls for a hearing with digital experts in the Bundestag.