New Work, Quantum Computers, Artificial Intelligence - how to prepare your IT security today for the working world of the future

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The digitalisation of our everyday life was already progressing steadily before the pandemic. But the new life situation led to an unimagined push, whether in home work, digital teaching, remote lectures or online leisure activities. In the meantime, the world of work has even become partly blurred with the private sphere. Some companies are planning to rely predominantly on home offices. The term New Work is increasingly used to symbolise that a new understanding of modern work concepts is actually emerging. The basic building block of this is often distributed working and the underlying technical requirements. Cryptographic procedures and communication protocols are supposed to secure this substructure. But quantum computers could weaken and even break some of the procedures used today. Alternative cryptosystems should not only protect against this new danger. In the context of cryptoagility, they are also supposed to ensure that security incidents are mitigated or a response is facilitated in the future. But despite great efforts, the migration to quantum-resistant procedures is proving cumbersome. Other attack vectors are also emerging. Whereas in the past it was possible to defend a defined parameter, e.g. demarcate a company network from the internet, today attacks can be carried out on many individual clients, such as employees in the home office or on the road. The complexity of IT systems and their networking also presents administrators with ever greater tasks. Artificial intelligence cannot replace humans, but in many places machine learning can provide support in understanding the networks and the processes within them. As diverse as the threats of the future may be. With the right tools, they can be countered with a clear conscience.