Computers and the Internet, smartphones and apps have pervaded our daily lives, professionally as well as privately. Working without computers is hardly imaginable; we go shopping on the Internet and order a taxi or pizza with our smartphone. The ongoing digital transformation will reinforce this even more, mirroring an increasing number of physical entities in cyberspace. Your fridge will order milk when you run low, your house will turn down the heating when you’re not at home, your washing machine will run automatically when electricity rates are lowest.

The digitization of our personal lives, companies, and industries exposes many new opportunities and can streamline and add comfort to our daily routines. However, every coin has two sides. Network connections to homes, businesses, and industrial facilities and virtual controls not only allow access to legitimate users, but also pose a threat as zones for malicious forces to attack. This course illustrates how our world has become more and more digitized and highlights the unfamiliar threats that lurk in the shadows of the bright new digital age.