Award for cybersecurity of critical infrastructures
For..Net Award goes to AG KRITIS and Manuel Atug
AG KRITIS is a group of over 40 experts which analyzes approaches to protecting critical infrastructures against digital attacks, working independently of government and business. Such infrastructures include for example water supplies, health care services and energy provision. AG KRITIS draws attention to safety gaps and potential damage with the objective of raising the level of security of public supply. It was formed in 2018 following the 34th Chaos Communication Congress (CCC). Manuel Atug is a founding member and has worked as the group's spokesperson since its inception.
"Vigilant on behalf of resilient IT security"
The For..Net Award jury points to the fact that the experts constantly provide their knowledge to the public, the media and the political sector. In the current geopolitical situation it is especially important to competently and properly classify incidents in order to counteract misinformation and conspiracy myths, the jury adds, characterizing the group's members as individuals constantly vigilant on behalf of resilient IT security. The jury sees the group as among the few civil-societal organizations which are successfully active on behalf of a higher level of cybersecurity in Germany, making an invaluable contribution towards digitalization oriented towards the general welfare.
"Nothing is possible in a digital society without the meta-topic of IT security. We are pleased to honor AG KRITIS and Manuel Atug as experts for IT-security who succeed in bringing to light the invisible aspects of smoothly functioning infrastructures, without fomenting panic," says Prof. Dirk Heckmann, Director of the TUM Center for Digital Public Services at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), initiator of the prize and chair of the jury, in explaining the award.
Symposium on AI in medicine, administration and the legal system
The award itself, in the form of a sculpture by artist Josef Nistler, will be presented on the evening of April 20 at the gala celebration of the 17th International For..Net Symposium. The laudatory address will be held by Ann Cathrin Riedel, Managing Director of NExT e.V. and last year's For..Net Award winner. The public symposium will focus on legal and ethical questions relating to artificial intelligence and extended reality when using data in medicine, administration and legal contexts. Other featured speakers will include Bavarian Minister of Digital Affairs Judith Gerlach, who is also the honorary patron of the event, and President of the German Ethics Council, TUM professor Alena Buyx.
Event date:
17th International For..Net Symposium
April 20 – 21, 2023
Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria, Max-Joseph-Straße 2, 80333 Munich
Organizer: TUM Center for Digital Public Services, Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt)
The TUM Center for Digital Public Services (CDPS) is dedicated to the legal questions of digitalization, with a focus on the fields e-government, e-health and digital education. Academics from the legal and social sciences as well as from information technologies not only conduct research on fundamental legal issues, but also develop specific approaches for the use of digital technologies at public institutions.
The name of the conference and of the award is taken from the former research center for IT law and internet policy For..Net at the University of Passau, which was headed by CDPS Director Dirk Heckmann until his move to TUM.
Technical University of Munich
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Contacts to this article:
Prof. Dr. Dirk Heckmann
Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Chair of Law and Security in Digitization
Phone: +49 89 907793 301
dirk.heckmann@tum.de