Town Hall Meeting@it-sa: Brave New World! IT Security Managed by AI?!

On 28 October, more than 100 people filled Room St. Petersburg at the Nuremberg Exhibition Center for the Town Hall Meeting@it-sa. The session asked: Brave New World! IT Security Managed by AI?!
Fireside Chat
Claudia Eckert, Chairwoman of Security Network Munich, and Thomas Caspers, Vice President of the BSI, opened the session with a conversation that framed the panel discussion to follow.
Panel Discussion
Moderated by Kai Hermsen, the panel explored how AI could change the way organizations manage and secure IT systems, and what that means for today’s vulnerability-driven security model.
- Anja Unglaub, CTO Europe & SVP, Bosch Building Technologies
- Pascal Debus, Lead Cognitive Security Technologies, Fraunhofer AISEC
- Tobias Lieberum, Founder & Managing Director, CyberDesk
- Shriram Lakshmanan, CISO Advisor for the ISAC Foundation
The discussion covered four themes:
- State of play: where AI is already used on the attacker and defender side, and which problems it solves under real-world constraints such as legacy systems, budgets and skills.
- Business drivers vs. control: how organizations can respond to business demand for AI while managing security and compliance, and which guardrails support responsible autonomy.
- Agents: how to manage identities and rights for non-human actors, and what decentralized deployment means for central oversight.
- Organization and governance: how AI affects products, roles and processes, and how international cooperation on AI governance can inform companies in practice.
In the closing round, each panelist offered one practical recommendation for organizations considering AI, agents and cybersecurity over the next 12 to 24 months.
Q&A
The audience Q&A joined the discussion with their questions and perspectives, which made for an even livelier exchange.
Networking
The conversations continued over lunch, with plenty of new connections made and ideas exchanged.
A big thank you to all speakers and participants for a great Town Hall session. We look forward to seeing you at our next event!