The recent corona pandemic has inspired many businesses to utilize web based communication tools for webinars, video conferences and matchmaking services in order to provide at-home communication and advanced training opportunities for their employees working from home. In their white paper “Auswahl und Nutzung webbasierter Kommunikationsdienste in Zeiten von Corona“, the Fraunhofer SIT data protection experts describe relevant requirements for appropriate data protection and security when choosing online tools.

In a recent episode of the science television programme arte Xenius called "Cyber­sicher­heit - Wie wir Hacker­angriffe vermeiden", Dr. Steven Arzt of Fraunhofer SIT gives advice on how smartphone users can protect themselves from data piracy and hacker attacks on their devices. A healthy degree of alertness, as well as frequent updating and attention to approving access rights are essential. When buying a used smartphone, it should be reset to its default settings before the first use.

The subsidy program StartUpSecure of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) supports the product idea for automatized estimation and risk evaluation for vulnerabilities in IT.

Since April 1, 2020, meshcloud has been backed by the subsidy program StartUpSecure of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). 

ATHENE researcher Prof. Sebastian Faust from the TU Darmstadt will receive the Copernicus Prize 2020 of the Deutsche For­schungs­gemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Stiftung für die polnische Wissenschaft (FNP) for his services to German-Polish cooperation in science. The prize, which is endowed with 200,000 EURO, goes equally to him and to Prof. Stefan Dziembowski from the University of Warsaw. They receive the award for their outstanding cooperation in the field of theoretical cryptography and IT security.

"Which obligatory data deletion responsibilities does a company have to comply with in terms of the data protection law?" "What does 'obligatory data deletion' mean in terms of the data protection law?" And "How will the deletion of this data be realized in CRM systems?" These as well as other questions are answered by ATHENE researcher Annika Selzer of the Fraunhofer SIT and Tugba Koc Macit, Junior Consultant at AGOR AG Frankfurt, in an article in the newest issue of the Verbandsmagazin des Berufsverbands der Datenschutzbeauftragten Deutschlands (BvD) e.V..

The subsidy program StartUpSecure of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) supports the development of safe and easy passwordless logins for businesses. Upon their application, COTECH was closely assisted and advised by the team of the incubator program StartUpSecure | ATHENE, benefitting from their technical and economic expertise.

Passwordless logins, management solutions across the cloud, and the automatic recognition and removal of vulnerabilities in IT – three novel product ideas are meant to enhance the security of IT in businesses. The subsidy program StartUpSecure by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (GDPR) supports projects by the startups COTECH, meshcloud and Synamic Technologies.