After a brief introduction by Hajo Rapp, Head of Cybersecurity Sales at TÜV SÜD, two sessions explored the cybersecurity challenges shaping industrial environments and connected products today.
First Session – “Ensuring Digital Trust by TÜV SÜD” Presented by Sudhir Ethiraj, Head of Cybersecurity Office & Services at TÜV SÜD
The first session focused on the growing importance of digital trust as a foundation for resilient infrastructure, manufacturing, and product ecosystems.
Sudhir Ethiraj discussed how increasing digitization, IT/OT convergence, and the rise of autonomous operations are reshaping cybersecurity requirements – and why cybersecurity can no longer be treated as an isolated IT function, but must be embedded across products, supply chains, and manufacturing environments from the start.
The presentation also explored the opportunities and risks created by the Industrial Metaverse: while these technologies enable efficiency, collaboration, and new business models, they also expand attack surfaces and raise new governance challenges. The session concluded with a forward-looking perspective on co-creation, regulatory alignment, and building digital trust at scale.
Second Session – “Product Cybersecurity Management” Presented by Patrick Rieger, General Director at Qumasoft GmbH
Patrick Rieger explained how new regulations are shifting the landscape, with cybersecurity compliance increasingly becoming mandatory for nearly every product. He highlighted how product cybersecurity differs fundamentally from traditional IT and OT security environments.
Using examples from historical product-focused regulations, Patrick demonstrated the significant economic impact these requirements can have, underscoring the importance of integrating cybersecurity early. The presentation concluded with a pragmatic and field-proven strategic approach to managing product cybersecurity in a more economical and predictable way.
Missed a detail or want to revisit the content? The slides from both sessions are available for download as a single file here.
Following the presentations, attendees stayed for networking and further discussions, exchanging perspectives on industrial cybersecurity, regulatory developments, and practical implementation challenges.
A big thank you to TÜV SÜD for hosting this edition of Cybersecurity Meetup Munich, to Hajo Rapp, Sudhir Ethiraj, and Patrick Rieger for sharing their insights, and to everyone who joined us for another engaging evening in Munich. We are already looking forward to the next edition of the Meetup series on June 25, 2026 @Cloudflare. You can register here: https://security-network-munich.org/cybersecurity-meetup-munich-june-edition-cloudflare/