Project objective:

The project pursues the vision of raising the awareness of the handcraft industry to IT security and empowering them technically, organisationally, and competence-based for IT security. Since the handcraft industry is still at the beginning of digitalisation, this requires targeted interdisciplinary cooperation within a joint research project. Accordingly, approaches from management research on business models, skills and technology assessment (University of Kassel) are combined with expertise in the design, development, and testing of reliable, secure, user-friendly and valuable applications, information infrastructures, as well as decision support systems (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology). Transfer to the handcraft industry is ensured by the network of the Berufsförderungswerk des Handwerks and associated partners. The University of Kassel complements the technical development of the AI-supported IT security assistant with a training concept. Based on a comparison of existing and required competence and skill profiles, demand-oriented further training offers are being developed and tested to raise the awareness of skilled workers to IT security and enable them to improve IT security management in their own companies. In order to enable a long-term follow-up application, suitable business models for the intelligent IT security assistant will further be explored. The project thus makes an essential contribution to the goals of the "IT Security in the Economy" initiative, not only by raising awareness of IT security in the skilled trades but also by building up technical, organisational, and social security skills so that the level of IT security in the skilled trades is increased.

Objective in detail:

- Technology assessment concerning IT security in the digital transformation in the handcraft industry

- Identification of viable business models for the intelligent IT security assistant and the accompanying service offering

- Need-based further training of skilled workers in dealing with IT in order to sensitise them to IT security-relevant aspects and to strengthen their competencies & skills

- Ongoing (supra-)regional networking of the project with existing and other associated partners