HÖRMANN’s mittendrin magazine focusing on getting through the day securely

These days, it is impossible to imagine life without digital media, computers and smartphones either at work or in our personal lives, and the same goes for software and the internet. We now use all sorts of digital systems every day without thinking about it, whether for getting our day-to-day work done at HÖRMANN, for communicating with other people or for online banking and shopping.

Digital media may make our workflows quicker and easier, but using them does, unfortunately, come with plenty of risks. We have all heard tales of data misuse and theft, espionage and criminal activity affecting the flow of money, as well as sabotage and attacks completely preventing companies from doing business. Cybercrime, as it is known, has become a much bigger problem in recent years and is a threat to all of us at the HÖRMANN Group, as well as our customers and suppliers. There is no respite in our personal lives, either, and nor is public infrastructure safe from harm.

The damage inflicted on companies and the wider economy by cybercrime has reached extraordinary levels, with the Bitkom industry association estimating that it lost the German economy alone EUR 220 billion in 2020. In addition to amateur hackers, of which there are many, organised crime is currently skyrocketing. At HÖRMANN Group, IT experts from HÖRMANN Informationssysteme GmbH (HIS) and various subsidiaries have been grappling with the security of our information systems for many years. Following an IT security audit last year, IT security was stepped up again at all Group companies. Comprehensive IT security training for all employees was also initiated to prevent human error to the greatest extent possible. At this point, IT security is so important to many of our customers that some HÖRMANN Group companies need to obtain special certification in accordance with the TISAX standard or the international ISO 27001 standard. Consequently, this is becoming an area of considerable significance. 

In this issue of mittendrin, the cover story is entitled ‘Getting through the day securely’, we report on our IT experts and their wide-ranging work to ensure that the IT systems at HÖRMANN Group run as smoothly as possible and offer the best possible protection to our company.