Current Issues in IT Security

IT Security is an important issue not only in practice, but also in academia. The conference "Current Issues in IT Security" was able to bring together researchers and practitioners from various disciplines to discuss current issues.

Information technology in general, the risks and legal issues in this context have been in the focus of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law for quite some time now. This research topic brings together jurists, criminologists, IT specialists as well as many other disciplines. The events grew due to the interest of other disciplines from small workshops for IT Staff to a truly international and interdisciplinary conference.

During the three-day-event from 12 to 14 May 2009, various building blocks highlighted the different aspects of IT security and its importance for different disciplines. This volume of conference proceeding is an excerpt of the topics that were covered during the conference.

You will find for example:

The technical issues of IT security: Computers and IT infrastructure have become the very backbone of society. Vulnerable systems pose a risk to society in general. This was shown by Dr. Dirk von Suchodoletz who illustrated the vulnerabilities of GSM and DECT security in theory and practice.

The victims of cybercrime: Ramona Rantala explained her statistical findings in "cybercrime against businesses", a scientifically outstanding study done by the American Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Prof. David Wall, one of the big names in cybercrime, talked on the organization of online crime and showed the background of a highly professionalized business.

The risks still ahead: Jan Spoenle gave an outlook on the cycle of organized cyber crime, where differentiation creates a complete new level of danger.

The question of control and the implications of IT security in businesses and state policy: Amir Alsbih illustrated the problems of an abuse department of a privately owned company.