It is another effect of corona: Many companies need to speed up their digitalization. This automatically leads to questions concerning the rights and laws for data protection and security in each sector. How can one do it right and in alignment with the law? The Cybersecurity Navigator, which was developed by the University of Bremen, provides answers.
Data security and protection is one of the big topics of our time. Some company processes can be digitalized quickly, but if they are not well thought through and carried out with the necessary care, they can create clefts – and they can be dangerous. However, there had to be rapid changes made for many companies in the last months: The corona pandemic greatly accelerated digitalization.
Many Companies Overburdened by Cybersecurity
As Dr. Deniis-Kenji Kipker from the Faculty of Law at the University of Bremen knows, innumerable questions arise. In order to be able to provide the right answers in a quick and precise manner, he and his team developed the Cybersecurity Navigator tool. “Many companies, regardless of their size, are overwhelmed by matters of cybersecurity in the frame of the current, ‘forced’ digitalization – and most of them do not have a legal department that can deal with it,” says the legal scholar. “What does one need to consider, for example, when one holds video conferences via Zoom or similar programs with staff working from home or customers?” That is one example he names. There are so many laws, norms, and regulations now that it is possible for companies to lose their overview.
The Cybersecurity Navigator is to keep said overview. The navigator is a clear website with an attached database, where companies can quickly find out what is relevant to them according to their sector and state. For example, when looking for legal requirements, if you were to choose the combination “Transport (Sector) – maritime transport (industry) – state law (level) – Bremen (state) – law (act of law),” two results are shown – the Bremen Port Security Law and the Bremen Port Operation Law. The search for relevant norms and standards, that companies must adhere to much like laws, is very similar. The states regulations can then be printed in a concise and easily understandable manner.
Legal Framework and Implementation Possibilities Become Clear
“The tool will help many companies from various sectors and industries to determine the applicable legal framework for cybersecurity and data protection and also the possibilities for their technical and organizational implementation,” states Dennis-Kenji Kipker. “With our creation, the search for basic laws and standards is significantly easier and clearer for companies.”
The Cybersecurity Navigator was presented to a large specialist audience for the virtual 2020 conference of the Cyber Defence Research Institute (CODE) at the Universität der Bundeswehr München. The tool was created as part of the NutriSafe project that was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Further Information:
www.cybersecurity-navigator.de (in German only)
www.uni-bremen.de/en/
Contact:
Dr. Dennis-Kenji Kipker
Institute for Information, Health, and Medical Law
University of Bremen
Tel.: +49 421 218-66049
E-Mail: kipkerprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
