Throwback to the 6th CyberSecurityForum

Claudia Plattner, President of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), gave the keynote address on the state of cybersecurity and AI. She was also part of the panel discussion together with Thomas Strobl (Minister of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg), Prof. Christina Dörr from the Hasso-Plattner-Institute and Rolf Schumann (Co-CEO Schwarz Digits).

After the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism had enquired about innovative startups from the cybersecurity community at StartUpSecure KASTEL (SUSK) about innovative startups in the cyber security community, a separate panel was also created on the topic of ‘Cyber security with, for and despite AI: new tasks and opportunities for companies’. Several startups from the community were able to present their ideas at this panel. Among them were Inlyse, Aimino Tech and MATVIS, which presented innovative solutions at the interface between cyber security and AI technologies. Employees of the KIT start-up forge Alexander Graf was on site as a representative of StartUpSecure KASTEL.

The presentation of the Baden-Württemberg Security Award received special attention. The special prize 2024 went to Whitemacs (see picture). This year they have already won an award at the Community Congress 2024. Second prize went to the INSPECTION project, another highlight developed by the KASTEL research group SECUSO.

The SUSK startups received nothing but positive feedback. The panel on the topic of AI security was met with particular interest. MATVIS emphasised: ‘I was particularly impressed by the interest and feedback from the information security officers on the panel regarding the topic of AI security. To operate enterprise AI applications reliably, safeguards in the business processes are essential.’ Whitemacs was also enthusiastic: ‘The opportunity to exchange ideas with so many representatives and interested parties from the industry is an enormous enrichment for us. We are emerging from the forum stronger in terms of our motivation, our network and our mission.’

The forum was an ideal platform for showcasing the innovative strength of SUSK start-ups and for networking with the regional cyber security ecosystem. The event enabled the KIT Founders Forge and StartUpSecure KASTEL to position themselves as multipliers for the transfer of innovation in Baden-Württemberg.