Berlin - After Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv and Tallinn, the Cyber Security Summit returns to Germany. This is the eighth time that Deutsche Telekom and the Munich Security Conference have hosted this important summit on digital security.
For two days, around 150 representatives from politics, defense, science and the private sector will discuss the next steps. Steps on a path whose direction is influenced to a certain extent by global political events on the one hand and technical progress on the other.
Digitisation enters a new phase
If progress accelerates the pace more quickly, one suddenly finds oneself in the balancing act - this fear resonates as a basic note in many speeches. It is important to maintain one's composure so as not to stumble. The call for sovereignty is heard more and more often: "In order to be able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by innovation, people must have confidence in digitization. They must be able to rely on their data being secure and being treated appropriately," said Thomas Kremer, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, at the start of the summit. "We need to shape this digital future and reduce the general uncertainty in order to create digital sovereignty for people."
Security as the basis for trust
Kremer agrees with the chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger. Security is the basis for people's trust in digitization. And politics, science and business must earn this trust precisely.
After the start on Sunday in the representative office of Deutsche Telekom AG, the event merged on Monday morning with the International Governance Forum of the United Nations. The Background is the growing geopolitical competition for information technologies. This is currently making cooperation in the area of Internet governance and cyber security more difficult.
Exaggerated competitive thinking is detrimental to security
The Cyber Security Summit promotes the discussion of cooperative approaches. This can be achieved, for example, by defusing exaggerated competitive thinking and dealing with sources of uncertainty in cyberspace. Above all, confidence-building measures must be found. Because trust is the currency of diplomacy - and the currency in cyberspace. Without mutual trust between governments, companies and users in the security of cyberspace, joint technological progress is at risk. It is therefore important to find and maintain a balance so that the path to the digital future is a secure one.
