Swiss Cyber Security Days Talk

In this episode, Sandra Casalini speaks with Elisa Torres, the founder of Girls in Quantum. Elisa, 19, founded the organization at the age of 16 to inspire young women to pursue quantum computing. She emphasizes the importance of diversity in emerging technologies and explains how quantum computing offers great potential, particularly in areas such as health and cybersecurity. Elisa recounts how her curiosity led her to quantum computing and how she created Girls in Quantum to make these technologies more accessible to women. She highlights the importance of educating young people about the safe use of technology and the protection of personal data. Her goal is to build a global community that learns about quantum computing and offers career opportunities in this field.

Sandra Casalini speaks with Maura Pintor, Assistant Professor at the PRA Laboratory of the University of Cagliari, about AI security. Pintor emphasizes the importance of proactive security testing of AI, where attacks are modeled in advance. She criticizes the fact that misjudgments and confirmation biases hinder progress, as researchers often overestimate how robust their models are. She also sees problems arising from the rapid development of new models and generative AI, which could compromise data quality. Nevertheless, she remains optimistic because progress is being made in automated testing.

In dieser Episode spricht Tobias Bolzern mit Serdar Günal-Rütsche, Leiter der Abteilung für Cyberkriminalität bei der Kantonspolizei Zürich und des Netzwerks NEDIC. Serdar erklärt, wie sich die Polizeiarbeit durch Digitalisierung verändert hat und warum internationale Zusammenarbeit im Kampf gegen Cyberkriminalität wichtig ist. Er stellt das Netzwerk NEDIC vor, das den Austausch von Informationen und Wissen zwischen Kantonen fördert.Er berichtet auch über den erfolgreichen Fall der Ransomware-Gruppe Aidbase, bei dem die Schweiz beteiligt war und international mit Europol zusammengearbeitet wurde. Serdar betont, dass DDoS-Angriffe eine unterschätzte Gefahr darstellen und dass der Umgang mit persönlichen Daten in der Gesellschaft verbessert werden muss. Abschliessend wünscht er sich eine automatische Datenweitergabe in der Schweiz zur besseren Bekämpfung von Cyberkriminalität und eine strengere Regulierung der Nutzung sozialer Medien durch Jugendliche.

In this episode, Sandra Casalini talks to Jean-Marc Rickli about the opportunities and risks of new technologies. He emphasises that technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9 and AI offer great potential for medical advances, but can also be misused, for example for genetic manipulation or deepfakes. Rickli emphasises that technological progress is often faster than security precautions, which poses a challenge for cybersecurity. He warns of exponential developments and geopolitical tensions, particularly between the USA and China. He concludes by emphasising that technology can be both a blessing and a curse and that we need to use it responsibly.

In this episode of Swiss Cybersecurity Days, Tobias Bolzern talks to Nicolas Mayencourt, CEO of DreamLab Technologies, about the evolution of cybersecurity. Nicolas explains how the technology has evolved from a niche to the foundation of our society and emphasises the need to close security gaps in the digital infrastructure. He criticises Switzerland for acting too slowly despite the discovery of millions of vulnerabilities and reflects on the risks posed by foreign cloud providers. For the future, he calls for more secure technologies and a digital social contract that regulates rights and obligations in the digital space.

In this episode, Tobias Bolzern talks to Mike Mullane from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) about the importance of standards in cyber security and the threat of deepfakes. Mullane explains that standards create global trust and facilitate trade. He also describes the growing threat of deepfakes, which are used for phishing and other attacks. The IEC is working to use existing standards to recognise deepfakes and ensure authenticity, such as the "JPEG Trust" initiative. In conclusion, Mullane emphasises the importance of digital literacy in dealing with new technologies.

In this episode, Sandra Casalini talks to Mauro Vignati from the International Red Cross about cognitive warfare, with a focus on online and offline radicalisation, as well as the role of social media. Mauro explains that cognitive warfare involves new technologies from neuroscience, for example neurotechnologies that can read and influence brain waves. He warns of the danger of online radicalisation, which can reinforce extremist ideologies. Democracies are particularly vulnerable as their open, digital information environment is exploited. Mauro emphasises the need to protect societies without jeopardising democratic values. The episode ends with a warning about the further development of cognitive warfare in social media.

In the second episode, Tobias Bolzern talks to Karin Frick, a leading futurologist, about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on society, the economy and technology. Karin reflects on her early experiences with AI and asks whether we should see it as an opportunity or a threat. She emphasises that the technology itself is not the problem, but the potential misuse. Karin explains that we need to use AI responsibly and be aware of the risks, especially in the future where AI also takes over surveillance and management tasks. She concludes by discussing the role of humans in an AI-dominated world and the need to maintain critical thinking.

In this episode, Tobias Bolzern talks to Daniel Fabian, a security expert at Google. Daniel explains the concept of red teaming, where a special team simulates attacks to find vulnerabilities before real attackers can exploit them. A typical day of red teaming involves extensive research, testing and repeated failures, with only 5-10% of attacks being successful. One example of an attack was the manipulation of USB plasma globes that posed as keyboards and installed malicious code on company computers. Daniel emphasises that ethical boundaries are observed, such as not accessing real user data or physical attacks. He also heads the AI Red team at Google, which investigates security vulnerabilities in AI systems, and explains how attacks such as training data poisoning and prompt injection work. Transparency is important to him, which is why Google shares its findings from AI security research with the community in order to find solutions together. At the end, Daniel gives valuable tips for young talents, in particular the importance of curiosity and an attacker mentality to recognise vulnerabilities.

Carolina Hinrichsen brings a military perspective to cyber resilience in this engaging episode of Swiss Cyber Security Days Talk. Featuring Admiral Dr. Daum, Vice Admiral of the German Armed Forces and Inspector of Cyber and Information Space, and Diego Schmidlin, CISO of Cyber Command Switzerland, the discussion delves into the integration of cyber defense within national security strategies.