Managing Trust refers to a process aimed at establishing security and trust in the digital world. This alone will ensure a secure foundation for the successful development of digital solutions and innovative concepts.

The challenges along the way are significant and the need to act is more than urgent, because at this point lack of trust is the greatest barrier to growth in the sector. Data security plays a decisive role in a networked business world – particularly with regard to cloud computing. Complex and often opaque compliance requirements for customers are another key issue. Managing Trust is therefore a theme that permeates every area in IT, from technical security to system and solution reliability and organizational questions such as data protection and personality rights. This thread runs through all four CeBIT platforms and is presented in concrete application and solution scenarios.

The first step in the strategy involves concrete solutions such as antivirus programs and firewalls. Technology in this area has reached very high levels of sophistication, but installing isolated applications is not enough to ensure sufficient security. IT security is a chain that is only as strong as its weakest link, and the dangers are manifold. Security gaps mostly arise where we least expect them, such as in mobile communications with smartphones, which is becoming an ever more popular target for cybercriminals, or the difficulty in separating professional and personal use of devices.

Victims are often not even aware of the dangers, so Managing Trust means raising awareness of the threats at hand, as much as presenting the appropriate solutions. Most important, however, is a careful approach to identifying and closing the various security gaps. Ideally this is achieved using security concepts that combine technical solutions and a holistic approach to IT organization, such as for data protection issues. Well-structured access organization that controls which employees have access to classified data to begin with is another primary aspect. Clear and tested emergency planning and disaster recovery measures are also part of basic security, with priority given to system and data recovery, which is an absolute necessity for the survival of any modern company.

There are concrete penalties for neglecting security requirements: by the government, for example, which has been more assertively sanctioning security breaches by companies in recent years, as well as by customers themselves, who are increasingly conscious of threats of data security breaches and hacker attacks and pay close attention to IT security when selecting their providers. The consequences of image and liability risks should not be underestimated. In this sense, security measures are never additional costs, but a core investment in the digital future.