Cyber Defense for Infrastructure and More

Last Friday, the IT Security Community Exchange (IT-SECX) conference took place at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences. Under the motto “Cyber Defense”, this year's conference was dedicated to the active detection of attacks in IT networks and critical infrastructures.

Critical infrastructures: new frameworks, new actors

This year's IT-SECX was kicked off with the keynote speech “The Law, Policy and Diplomacy of Critical Infrastructure Protection” by the renowned security expert Eneken Tikk. She is the founder of the Cyber Policy Institute in Finland and an associate faculty member of the Erik Castrén Institute for International Law and Human Rights at the University of Helsinki. Eneken Tikk also worked at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCD COE) in Tallinn for a long time. In her keynote address, she spoke about the legal side of transnational cyberattacks on IT and critical infrastructure.

“Critical infrastructures are the core of political discourse, making the protection of national and cross-border communication, finance, utilities, and other vital functions a necessity and challenge for governments, owners, operators, and users alike. Law, policy, and diplomacy have evolved to ensure the resilience and security of essential and critical systems and services. And new issues, actors, and solutions are becoming more and more important in this area”, says Tikk.

New Requirements for IT Security

“Attack detection requirements are evolving. While network monitoring and system logging used to be considered sufficient, many companies now operate a security operation centre or cyber defence centre to keep track of their complex infrastructures. That is why we have dedicated this year's IT-SECX to the topic ‘Cyber Defense’”, says Thomas Brandstetter, organiser and chairman of the IT-SECX programme committee.

Broad Topic Range at Conference

In addition to the main track covering the conference theme, there were four additional tracks for the first time due to the great interest: an English-language track for international visitors as well as presentation tracks focusing on the topics Internet of Things / Operational Technologies (IoT/OT), Penetration Testing, and Security Research.

Presentations covered topics such as cyber defence as a game, cryptography, and IT security in the (coming) age of quantum computers, IT security in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, and selected technical issues related to IT security and cyber security.

• A recording of the IT-SECX 2022 is available here.

Company Exhibition and Alumni Lounge

At the IT-SECX, companies were able to present themselves to a large audience within the context of a company exhibition. At the alumni lounge, graduates of the St. Pölten UAS met and were able to exchange their experiences in their professional life and current issues in the field of IT security.

The “Wirtschaftskammer Niederösterreich - Unternehmensberatung-Buchhaltung-IT” (Lower Austrian Chamber of Commerce – Consulting-Accounting-IT) financially supported the IT-SECX 2022.

IT-SECX. IT Security Community Exchange

The IT-SECX is aimed at students, research and teaching staff, experts from organisations and industry, pupils, and all geeks and nerds involved in IT and IT security. Every year, the conference offers more than 600 participants a practice-oriented exchange of information about current developments and trends in the IT security environment.

• Conference webpage