Keywords
IT Security law, IT security regulation, resilience, hybrid threats, municipal administration, NIS2
Summary
Internationally known Prof. Dr. Dennis-Kenji Kipker, co-founder of the Cyber Intelligence Institute and sought-after consultant, analyzes why cybersecurity for Germany is so complicated, and sheds light on the cybersecurity challenges in municipal authorities.
The podcast was recorded a few weeks before the final transition of the NIS2 directive into German law.
Takeaways
Municipal entities, especially data centers, in Germany are very vulnerable.
The Federal Government of Germany allows too many exemptions and special provisions in its IT security regulations.
Some entities, which should be deemed critical, don’t even have to comply to minimum standards.
Municipal cybersecurity is a case for ensuring basic rights of the citizens and public welfare.
A strategy isn’t worth its paper if it’s not implemented.
Germany has a problem with diffusion of responsibility involving 77 actors. This complexity must be reduced.
The position of the Federal CISO needs a clear definition of scope, tasks, rights and responsibilities.
Just as in companies, responsibilities on municipal level must be clearly defined and supported by budget and staff.
Municipalities must start learning the basics of cybersecurity and must get an understanding for its relevance.
The fear of presumable complexity can be dissolved by prioritizing the tasks at hand.
Municipal administration should use the existing chances of further training and education.
Sound Bites
The federal government is struggling with really investing in cybersecurity.
The German cybersecurity architecture is a hidden object picture of responsibility diffusion.
The main problems are a lack of leadership, insufficient coordination, and a lack of centralized strategy and implementation.
Employees in municipal administration must realize that multi-factor authorization is not about the 30 seconds they need more for logging in but about them being in a critical supply function for the public.
A committee itself doesn’t make us cyber secure.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:30 Report of the Federal Audit Office on the cybersecurity of municipal administrations
05:19 The German problem of diffusion of responsibility
06:31 The many exemptions and special provisions in the German NIS2 transition law
09:22 Finding consensus in a federal structure
13:28 From business cybersecurity to municipal cybersecurity
18:00 Building cybersecurity in municipal administrations
22:37 The role of the actors the like Cyber Intelligence Institute
23:55 Fare-Well
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