The it-sa Home of IT Security is now behind us and has brought together numerous companies, IT experts, and start-ups who presented their solutions and ideas. There were lively debates in numerous forums, providing a valuable opportunity for exchange, and highlighting various risks. But what remains after the trade fair? In the following, we would like to share our highlights with you, which continue to occupy our thoughts.

1 Trust no AI: AI has undoubtedly become an integral part, but how we use and leverage it is of great importance. When collaborating with such technologies, we should be critical. AI can assist us in analysis, but what we do with the insights and data we obtain is crucial. We cannot expect AI to have common sense. When companies promote AI, it is important to question the control, function, and governance, otherwise, we make ourselves more vulnerable.

2 Hackers are getting stronger: Cybercrime will always exist, and we must learn to deal with it. There will always be security vulnerabilities, and the most sensitive and profitable data will be discovered, spied on, websites will be paralyzed, or information will be sold. We cannot prevent this in the industry, but we can optimize the use of our ingenious solutions to sustainably avoid significant damage. The crucial topic is resilience, which needs to be increased to minimize the consequences of cyber-attacks.

3 There is no absolute security: You can never feel completely secure. But gain transparency and know where the weaknesses in your network lie. This way, the most sensitive vulnerabilities can be addressed and closed. By doing so, you can confidently improve your company‘s structures.

4 Awareness – be aware of your weaknesses. Raising awareness for IT security is of great importance. Ignorance does not protect against harm. And the damages are immensely high, with companies incurring €203 billion in losses in 2022 due to theft, industrial espionage, or sabotage (source: Bitkom). Employees need to be informed about the risks and best practices to ensure the security of the company and minimize damage. This starts with small things, such as which cable to connect to your phone, tablet, or laptop, or how often to change passwords and how AI works in our workflow.

5 It‘s always a collaboration. Hardware, software, and humans, as all three have an important role to play. The aforementioned keys show that the interplay between hardware, software, and common sense, which ultimately determines the direction, is what makes IT security successful. It is not enough to optimize and keep only one component up to date. The best hardware requires a functioning software with as few open interfaces as possible. And while control can be managed by AI, it must be meaningfully interpreted and managed by humans.

The it-sa 2023 has once again brought forth important insights and reaffirmed our beliefs. Now, it is crucial what we make of them. At asvin, we work every day to improve cybersecurity worldwide. Let‘s be excited about the topics that will move and accompany us until the next it-sa 2024.
Looking forward to the next it-sa with anticipation!