KRITIS: Protecting the infrastructure

Destroyed data cables in the Baltic Sea, cyberattacks on the government, drones over German army bases - we read reports of attacks on critical infrastructure almost every day. The security situation in Europe is tense, which is why protecting the important facilities that supply the population is becoming increasingly important.

The EU wants to strengthen the protection of its institutions with two new directives: ‘Critical Entities Resilience’ (CER) obliges EU member states to strengthen their physical resilience to threats such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks or sabotage. The Network and Information Security Directive (NIS-2) aims to achieve a high common level of cyber security in the EU. Germany intends to follow suit and pass the KRITIS umbrella law this year.

More than 1,000 companies from numerous sectors will be affected by the new KRITIS Act. They need to find measures to better protect their critical infrastructure. They will be presenting these measures at various trade fairs organised by NürnbergMesse, which focus on the topic of security in different areas.

Cybersecurity - and thus the core topic of NIS-2 - is the focus of the annual it-sa - expo & congress and the year-round online industry platform it-sa 365. ‘Keep the discussion going and stay in dialogue,’ urges Manuel ‘HonkHase’ Atug. The founder of AG KRITIS was a speaker at the IT security talk ‘KRITIS in cyberspace’ at it-sa 365. it-sa 365's online knowledge portal provides detailed information about the critical infrastructure sectors and their exposure to natural disasters, technical failures and attacks in cyberspace.

The protection of buildings and outdoor areas is discussed every two years at the Perimeter Protection trade fair in Nuremberg. Exhibitors presented the latest innovations, from drone defence and camera surveillance to security fences. The new KRITIS umbrella law was hotly debated at the January 2025 edition: ‘The integration of artificial intelligence in control centres and situation centres could be relevant here,’ said Wilfried Joswig, Co-Managing Director of the Association for Security Technology.

Security forces such as the police and military, as well as representatives from German defence companies, NATO and the EU, meet annually at Enforce Tac in Nuremberg in February. KRITIS is also at the top of the agenda there. For example, exhibitors presented modern drone defence technologies.

Preventing fires is the central theme of the FeuerTrutz congress trade fair. A large community of specialist planners and experts, architects and civil engineers, employees of authorities and fire protection agencies will be exchanging innovative ideas and solutions for the best possible protection of buildings and systems.

The protection of critical infrastructures has also arrived in the municipalities. The Kommunale trade fair covers all topics that are important for decision-makers in small, medium-sized and large municipalities. It provides mayors, procurement decision-makers and municipal experts with the tools they need to meet the increased requirements for the protection of local infrastructure such as energy and water supply, communication and mobility caused by extreme weather or cyber attacks.

From cyber security, building and fire safety to the exchange between security authorities and the military - NürnbergMesse's security trade fairs form a network of different experts who are intensively involved with the new KRITIS Act.