René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, called for extensive cooperation in the fight against attacks from the Internet at the Munich Security Conference.
International representatives from politics, business and society spent the first weekend in February discussing core geopolitical security issues at the 49th Munich Security Conference. The subject of cybersecurity was on the agenda of this globally recognized forum for the third time. In a public discussion that included the German Federal Minister of the Interior, Hans-Peter Friedrich, EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes and representatives of the US government , Mr. Obermann called upon companies to join Deutsche Telekom's initiative to create an information platform for cyberattacks. "Attackers benefit from joining forces: They connect hundreds of thousands of computers for large-scale attacks," said Obermann. "So why shouldn't we combine our efforts in cybersecurity? Deutsche Telekom is prepared to play its part in "collective Internet security". All this means for the industry is, for example, sharing information about attacks. Obermann pointed out that Deutsche Telekom has already been sharing the knowledge its experts gleans from attacks on honeypots set up themselves with other companies for some time now. The CEO of Deutsche Telekom added that the issue of cybersecurity requires constant innovation, which is why Deutsche Telekom collaborates closely with young, innovative companies in the security field. Ultimately, however, Obermann stated, everyone involved is responsible for making sure the Internet is secure - hardware and software providers, infrastructure companies, authorities and private users: "Cybersecurity concerns us all."