PMeV Establishes Cyber Security Division

During the constitutive meeting, the representatives of the PMeV member companies present unanimously elected Nico Werner (telent GmbH) as Chairman of the new department. With the foundation of this department, the PMeV Association takes account of the crucial importance of Cyber Security for safety-critical communication and thus for all PMeV member companies.

“The companies are increasingly focussing their efforts on Cyber Security – both for control centers, with regard to 5G and in the direct environment of Professional Mobile Radio (PMR). However, currently we are still missing special requirements and solutions optimized for our industry sector. We want to change this with the foundation of the new department”, explained Nico Werner.

Cyber Security as central task of the PMeV

The declared intention of the PMeV Association is to create the awareness that secure communication systems for emergency and rescue forces, operators of critical infrastructures and the industry are decisive for safeguarding security and providing our society with the necessary services

“To ensure the security of these communication systems also in the future, Cyber Security must have highest priority both for operators and responsible persons dealing with professional mobile communication. Contributing to shape and coordinate this work in the interest of critical communication users is our core task”, said PMeV president Bernhard Klinger.

Irrespective of the technological platform used in the future to realize networking of facilities and systems, the needs of safety-critical users cannot be met without taking account of Cyber Security requirements. For this reason, when talking about the slogan Internet of Things (IoT), these users differentiate between Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Life Saving Internet of Things (LSIoT) to express the criticality of the respective application.

Comprehensive protection of networked systems

To ensure the comprehensive protection of communication and information systems, Cyber- security by far exceeds conventional computer and network security. Notwithstanding the advantages and performance capacity of professional mobile radio systems, the dangers and threats resulting from a single networked unit or from open hardware or software interfaces (such as USB and API) – if unprotected – must not be underestimated. Such vulnerabilities can be easily used by attackers as gateway to company systems. A holistic and comprehensive security concept also represents the basis for process optimization and resilience.