With the parliamentary evening to be held on 4 November 2019 in Berlin, the law firm Becker Büttner Held (BBH) places the focus on the topic of cybersecurity in regard to critical infrastructures. How acute is the danger for the particularly sensitive areas of energy, health, finance and transport? High-level guests from politics, the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt – BKA), the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz – BfV), the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur – BNetzA) as well as the IT sector will discuss the topic of cybersecurity from various angles with representatives of critical infrastructures.
The increasing digitalisation of the economy is opening up new opportunities for more efficient processes and the development of entirely new business areas. At the same time, companies are facing the threat of an invisible enemy: cybercrime. While this threat is not completely new to them, the potential danger is constantly increasing. The police crime statistics for 2018 show a total of 87,106 cases of cybercrime in the narrower sense and no less than 271,864 criminal offences in which the internet was used as a means to commit crime. Critical infrastructure companies have to deal with the high-risk situation in a particularly responsible manner, for their functioning is fundamental for the community. For this reason, the legislator has specifically addressed critical infrastructures by passing the Act on the Federal Office for Information Security (Gesetz über das Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik – BSIG) and the Ordinance on the Identification of Critical Infrastructures (BSI-Kritisverordnung – BSI-KritisV).
The companies concerned are, therefore, obliged to properly implement the statutory requirements in organisational and legal terms, constantly review protective concepts and measures and keep them “up to date”. IT security is becoming an important topic for corporate compliance and thus falls within the responsibilities of managing board members, managing directors and supervisory board members, who must keep their company in operation – also in the interest of the common good – and protect its intellectual property.
Having recently announced its cooperation with the German Competence Centre against Cyber Crime e.V. (G4C), which works together with, among others, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Office for Information Security (Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik – BSI), the law firm BBH will hold its 12th parliamentary evening under the auspices of Bernd Westphal, spokesman for economic policy of the SPD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag.
Among others, Vice-President of the Federal Criminal Police Office Peter Henzler, Vice-President of the Federal Network Agency Dr. Wilhelm Eschweiler and President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Lower Saxony Bernhard Witthaut will speak on the topic “And with just one click the lights went out – The vulnerability of critical infrastructures”. Together with members of all parliamentary groups, representatives of the IT sector and, of course, of the critical infrastructure, BBH aims at raising awareness for cyber-related issues, will discuss defence strategies and give further thought to preventive measures also against the background of the upcoming IT Security Act 2.0. (IT-Sicherheitsgesetz 2.0). More than 200 participants have already registered for the parliamentary evening.
Becker Büttner Held is a leading provider of advisory services for energy and infrastructure companies and their customers. Energy and supply companies, particularly public utilities, municipalities and local authorities, industrial companies and international groups are among its core clients. BBH advises these and many other companies and organisations in all legal matters and also assists them with business and strategic advice.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Ines Zenke
Lawyer, Partner
Tel +49 (0)30 611 28 40-179
ines.zenke(at)bbh-online.de
Visit Becker Büttner Held at www.bbh-online.de, www.derenergieblog.de or twitter.com/BBH_online.