"Companies in high-security industry, communications industry, and other service sectors are always on the lookout for good recruits," stated Ulrich Hamann, CEO of Bundesdruckerei. "With the Endowed Chair in Secure Identity, we are supporting an important and future-oriented education and offering good entry oppotunities for graduates to enter the workplace." This chair, the only one of its kind in Germany, specializes in methods and technologies for securing identities. It is located in the Department of Computer Science of Freie Universität Berlin, initially for a period of five years.

Through the first lecture series on IT security within the framework of the endowed chair during the past summer, the education of junior researchers has already clearly taken shape. The terms buffer overflows or man-in-the-middle-attacks are no longer foreign words for the students who attended the lectures. Their content was divided into two blocs: The first one taught the principles of computer security and the other, the basics of data encryption. In group projects, the students also analyzed the vulnerabilities of modern IT technologies. "In this way the students were to be given an understanding of the risks and potentials of technologies that are directly or indirectly used for the collection or recovery of personal data," according to Volker Roth, holder of the endowed chair in secure identity.

The aim of the course offerings is to educate young people who upon graduation will be able to meet the international demand for expertise in the rapidly growing field of IT security. The priorities of this new field of higher education are therefore questions about secure identification and communication processes. Technical and mathematical aspects are being taught as well as social and legal aspects in dealing with personal data.

Prof. Dr. Volker Roth was appointed to the Bundesdruckerei Endowed Chair in Secure Identity in March, 2009. His previous  experience included ten years at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics in Darmstadt. Since 2006, he had been working in California, U.S.A., at the FX Palo Alto Laboratory of the Fuji Xerox Corporation.

For the upcoming winter semester experts from the Bundesdruckerei will be invited to hold guest lectures within the framework of the Secure Identity chair. They are invited to impart both their knowledge and practical experience to the students, as well as give them insights into a possible future working world.

About Bundesdruckerei:

Bundesdruckerei GmbH, Berlin, develops and supplies systems solutions for secure identification and is one of the world's leading companies in this field. In addition to passport and ID card systems, the company offers personal documents, high-security cards, document-checking devices, and security software along with trust center services to national and international clients. Furthermore, Bundesdruckerei GmbH produces banknotes, postage and revenue stamps, as well as electronic publications. Including its subsidiaries BIS Bundesdruckerei International Services GmbH, D-TRUST GmbH, Maurer Electronics GmbH, and iNCO Sp.z o.o., Bundesdruckerei has roughly 1,700 employees worldwide and during fiscal year 2008 had revenues of 314 million euros. The company is a founding member of the "Secure Identity Berlin-Brandenburg" innovation cluster and endows a chair in secure identity research at Freie Universität Berlin.

Further information online at www.bundesdruckerei.de.

About Freie Universität Berlin:

Freie Universität Berlin is a leading international university. It is one of nine German universities of excellence, awarded as particularly deserving of support in the competition of the federal and state governments. The university is being funded to develop its future strategy as an International Network University. With over 100 subjects taught in 15 departments and central institutes, Freie Universität offers a broad spectrum of courses in the natural and social sciences and in the humanities. At Freie Universität 380 professors carry out research. Currently there are 31,000 students.

Further information online at www.fu-berlin.de.