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Institute for Cyber Security & Privacy established
Watch your digital steps
From online banking and working from the home to ordering pizza in the evening – it goes without saying that we handle many things in our daily lives digitally. But we can only act with peace of mind if adequate options for digital security and privacy are available. Professor Luigi Lo Iacono and his colleagues at the newly founded Institute for Cyber Security & Privacy (ICSP) are working on this. The ICSP combines research, teaching and transfer, and develops solutions for protecting security and privacy in interdisciplinary projects.
Optimal transfer of know-how
IT security and privacy are big topics in the Bonn-RheinSieg region. The Federal Office for Information Security, the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, various research institutes and several relevant companies are located here. H-BRS has been active in this field for a long time – in the Department of Computer Science, information security has always been a popular focus with students. “By establishing the degree programme and the institute, we’re responding to the urgent issues of security and privacy while also boosting the visibility of H-BRS in the region,” explains Professor Lo Iacono, one of the founders of the institute.
Together with his colleagues, the IT security expert pushed for the establishment of an independent Cyber Security & Privacy degree programme. It quickly became clear to all those involved that this would also include its own institute because research and teaching are considered to be one and the same here. “With the institute, we can transfer know-how optimally and cluster the publicly and industrially funded research projects in terms of specialisation,” explains Lo Iacono. In addition to him, five other professors are involved in the institute, which is now conducting five funded research projects. Examples include raising awareness of IT security among employees in medical care facilities, the potential of blockchain technology for digital consumer engagement, and the construction and operation of 5G campus networks for future-oriented, digitally supported teaching at universities. The new Cyber Security & Privacy degree programme launched successfully in winter semester of 2021/22 with nearly 200 first-year students – almost 20 per cent of whom are female.
