Achieving digital security in everyday life

When it comes to digital security, many users feel overwhelmed. Each new connected device creates potential areas for attack. To make people aware of the urgency of the problem, the EU has declared October to be European Cybersecurity Month.

To mark this occasion, scientists from the Bavarian research association ForDaySec, in which LMU Professor Johannes Kinder is a member, have published a white paper entitled “Cybersecurity in Everyday Life.” The paper outlines concrete scenarios, research perspectives, and courses of action and emphasizes that cybersecurity is a task for society as a whole. Responsibility for digital security must no longer be shifted on to individuals, but should be shared across all of society. It is about minimizing risks and making support easy to access.

“When the manufacturer alone is responsible for security updates, cheap smart devices in particular must be swiftly withdrawn from circulation in cases of doubt,” says Professor Johannes Kinder, Chair Professor of Programming Languages and Artificial Intelligence at LMU and co-author of the paper. “With suitable technical measures, it would be possible to implement updates that better fulfill security conditions than is presently the case – and thus extend the service lives of these devices as well.”

Many functions are currently stored externally in cloud services, often with providers outside the European Union. With the increasing integration of AI assistants – in smart homes, for example –people’s control over personal data disappears as well. With open standards and locally operated AI systems, the researchers explain, this control can be safeguarded. Research and manufacturers should jointly assume responsibility for such developments.

The scientists call for targeted support for Bavarian cybersecurity research. Bavaria has the potential, they argue, to become a model region in Europea in the sphere of everyday digital security. Its combination of strong industry, excellent research, and innovative daring places the southern German powerhouse in an ideal position to become a beacon in this regard for other German states and European countries.

For more information about ForDaySec, see:

The Bavarian research association “Security in Everyday Digitization” (ForDaySec), under the coordination of the University of Passau, investigates novel techniques for the cybersecurity of private households, small and medium-sized enterprises, and public administration. It brings together research from the domains of IT, law, and the social sciences in order to think about security in a systematic fashion. To this end, five Bavarian universities have pooled their expertise to bring interdisciplinary strength to bear on the problem. The association is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry for Science and the Arts.