In her press conference on 15 March 2017, Minister-President of Saarland Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that the Federal Government and Saarland are setting up a Helmholtz Center for IT Security in Saarbruecken in collaboration with the Helmholtz Association. The current Center for IT-Security, Privacy and Accountability (CISPA) will be merged into the new center. Cispa director Prof. Backes will be the founding director of the new center.
IT security is a deciding factor for digitalization. Secure digital infrastructures are absolutely essential for our economy and society. The centre for IT security in Saarbrücken has proved its worth through its outstanding performance and is internationally recognized, making it ideally suited to place Germany at a level of excellence in IT security research worldwide. By ensuring the sustainability of the research centre, the federal government and the Saarland are making a significant contribution to this end.