Energy

The energy supply of a country and therefore all its households and economy is a responsible and, at the same time, challenging task for the providers of this sector. The essential laws and regulations valid in Germany are given by the Federal Network Agency responsible for electricity, gas, telecommunication, postal services and railways.

In the process of deregulating the energy trade, the Federal Network Agency also posed new tasks for the IT used by energy suppliers. From 1st October 2010, at the latest, utility companies must insert transport-signatures in all encrypted messages they transmit. Additionally, the recipient of the invoice must be provided with the verifications of the invoice-data required by law, namely “proof of authenticity of origin” and “intactness of the content" , in the form of a qualified signature.

The people in charge of IT in utility companies are responsible for securing web-portals and customer data and have to meet the requirements of the new Data Protection Act.

Furthermore, the important issues of the future in other sectors – such as electronic automobiles, for example – are what utility companies are dealing with today. Together with the automobile sector, one is dealing with central questions about smart-grids which relate to important elements of IT security.

secunet uses its substantial experience to support companies in the realisation of legal requirements or new technological developments with its consultation, products and services.