31.03.2020

New TATuP issue on "Cybersecurity"

Modern societies depend on digital infrastructures and have to defend themselves against cyberattacks. The Special Topic of the current TATuP issue deals with the possibilities and risks of the employed technologies.

The monetary costs that incur annually around the globe due to cyberattacks are constantly increasing. They almost correspond to the public budgets of entire states. Cyberattacks affect individuals, companies, public institutions, authorities, and governments alike. They affect an infrastructure that is vital for the functioning of modern societies.

Cybersecurity is essential, but guaranteeing it can lead to conflicts of interest. “Technologies for the creation of security and resilience of this infrastructure should therefore be subject to technology assessment,” explain the guest editors of TATuP 1/2020 “Cybersecurity. Threat, vulnerability, values, and damage.”

From autonomous vehicles to water supply

Since cybersecurity plays a vital role in the most different sectors of life and economy, this variety is also reflected in the articles of the current issue.

One article is dedicated to cybersecurity in the transformation of the energy system and the question how the resilience of digital energy systems can be improved. Another contribution analyzes the security of increasingly digitalized urban water management. The automotive industry is also considered, since the transition to e-mobility and (semi-)autonomous driving increases the focus on cybersecurity.

Interview: Science and policy advice

Societal transformation processes present politics with complex challenges too. Ernst Dieter Rossmann, Chairman of the Committee on Education, Research, and Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag, talks in the interview about the demands on technology assessment, its role in democratic systems and the practice of scientific policy advice at the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB).

Also in the current TATuP: A pedagogical evaluation of chances and limitations of digitalization of classes, reviews, conference proceedings, and news from the TA community. (30.03.2020)

Further links and information: