DIGITAL.SICHER.NRW is the new competence center for cyber security in business in North Rhine-Westphalia. Since March of this year, the competence center commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has been set up at the two business locations in Bonn and Bochum and will in future be available to small and medium-sized companies in NRW as an initial point of contact for guidance on all aspects of cyber security.

Making digital security tangible, appealing and accessible - that is the guiding principle and goal of the competence center. There is an urgent need for small and medium-sized companies in particular to take action to better protect themselves against cybercrime. DIGITAL.SECURE.NRW's mission is to raise awareness of cyber security among the 711,500 SMEs in NRW and to support them in their digital self-defense with implementation-oriented offers. The competence center's concrete offerings include first aid measures, checklists, best practice examples, practice-oriented training courses and webinars and instructions for helping people to help themselves. The website  www.digital-sicher.nrw (opens in a new tab) and the center's own social media channels provide ongoing information about the services offered by the competence center.

DIGITAL.SICHER.NRW is part of a strong cyber security network and can draw on the combined expertise in NRW: The non-profit GmbH, which was commissioned by MWIDE to operate the competence center, was founded by two associations, the Cyber Security Cluster Bonn e.V. and eurobits e.V. from Bochum. The two associations network the most important cyber security institutions from research, science and business in NRW and use the competence center to support the immunization of society against cyber attacks and thus also the success of the secure digital transformation.