The Cyber Defence Conference 2025 at the Maritim Hotel Bonn brought together about 350 specialist visitors from the German Armed Forces, government agencies and the defense industry – all united by a common mission: making Germany cyber-resilient. Together with basebox founder and CEO René Herzer, I traveled there to present our AI management system for government agencies and defense organizations and to listen to the high-caliber presentations.

The Perfect Cyber Storm: When AI Changes the Rules of the Game

Sergej Epp (Sysdig) hit the nail on the head in his presentation "The Perfect Cyber Storm: When AI and World Politics Collide": "AI solves everything we can measure well" – and that makes cyberattacks exponentially more dangerous. His key insight: We are in a "Post-AI Offense Dominant" phase, where AI-supported attacks are becoming faster, cheaper and more autonomous than our defense.

The figures I saw in Epp's presentation were sobering: 92% of successful ransomware attacks arise from technical debt, 97% of access rights are never used. "Cyber resilience is not a tool problem – it's an implementation problem," he summarized.

Digital Sovereignty as a Matter of Survival

Dr. Christian Marwitz (BWI) emphasized the importance of digital sovereignty in his keynote: "Digital sovereignty arises through independence, transparency, own competence and the ability to operate and further develop systems ourselves." His message was clear: cyber resilience means maintaining one's own digital capacity to act under all conditions – in peace, crisis and war.

Open Source as the Key to Independence

Nico Thomaier (adesso) argued convincingly for open source solutions: "Transparency instead of black box" is the key to genuine cyber resilience. His core message: Open source not only reduces license costs and makes security audits comprehensible, but also prevents vendor lock-in – a decisive advantage against geopolitical dependencies.

Automated AI Risk Analysis for the Future

Johannes Loevenich (Thales Deutschland) presented an innovative approach: "The goal is to quantify and increase the robustness/security of autonomous agents." His vision: A cross-domain meta-model for automated risk analysis of hybrid IT/OT/AI components in military networks that combines semantic knowledge graphs with cyber threat intelligence.

Whole-of-Government Approach as a Necessity

Vice Admiral Dr. Thomas Daum made it clear in his presentation: "Cybersecurity is a whole-of-government task – the German Armed Forces can only be successful here in cooperation." The "whole of nation approach" is not optional, but vital for survival.

Research for Tomorrow's Digital Resilience

Dr. Christoph Hof (Cyberagentur) presented impressive research programs: From investigating the security of critical infrastructures to advancing methods of formal verification. His core message: The Cyberagentur establishes a proactive mindfulness concept with "Cyber-Vigilance" that goes beyond reactive resilience.

Legally Secure Structures for the Future

Attorney Stefan Hessel (reuschlaw) showed in his presentation how NIS-2 and the Cyber Resilience Act are also relevant for the German Armed Forces: "Forward-looking contract design to ensure resilient and legally secure structures" is crucial. The integration of cybersecurity clauses is becoming increasingly important to create cyber resilience along the entire supply chain.

BSI: Competent Partner for Cybernation Germany

President Claudia Plattner (BSI) emphasized the role of BSI in her keynote: "Together we are shaping Cybernation Germany: resilient, sovereign, capable of action." Her clear message: BSI is the competent and strategic partner for cybersecurity – cooperation wins.

Procurement Law as Enabler, Not as Obstacle

Dr. Marc Pauka (BWI) dispelled a myth in his presentation: "Procurement law does not stand in the way of fast and secure procurement in emergencies. The contracting authority just needs to be prepared." With the right procurement law strategy, timely procurement can be made even in the face of cyber threats.

My Key Takeaways

• AI is fundamentally changing the cyber threat landscape – attackers have a technological advantage that we must compensate for through better cooperation and automation.

• Digital sovereignty is not an option, but a matter of survival – dependencies on non-European providers endanger our national security.

• Open source could be a strategic advantage – transparency creates trust and reduces geopolitical risks.

• A whole-of-government approach is unavoidable – breaking down silos and pooling forces between agencies, the German Armed Forces and industry.

• Legal frameworks must be considered – compliance and security are not contradictory, but mutually reinforcing.

The conversations at our exhibition stand confirmed what the presentations had made clear: the need for secure, sovereign AI solutions for government agencies and defense organizations is immense. Our approach – AI management systems that run entirely on one's own infrastructure – hits exactly the nerve of the times.

The Cyber Defence Conference 2025 has shown: We are at a turning point. The threats are becoming more complex, but our responses are becoming more intelligent. Together we can secure Germany's digital sovereignty – with the right technologies, the right partnerships and the right mindset.

Are you ready to become part of this digital transformation? Let us shape the future of cybersecurity together.