Competence Centres for IT Security Research

Information and communication systems have been permeating all areas of our lives for a long time now – our private environment, the economy, culture and politics. The Internet, particularly, has become a shopping centre, a social network and an indispensable basis for key sectors of the economy. As the prevalence and importance of information and communication systems grow, the number of attacks on these systems by hackers and their level of proficiency are also increasing. In the future, the objective will be to identify possible problems at an early stage and to develop suitable solutions for tomorrow to ensure that Germany can face the major issues related to cyber security in the long term. Since 2011, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has been supporting three competence centres for IT security research with funds totalling € 17.2 million.