IT-SECX 2026 at USTP Addresses Cyber Resilience

About 700 participants attended the IT Security Community Exchange (IT-SECX) on 2 October at the USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten. The annual conference bridges the gap between teaching and applied research at USTP and real-world topics. This year’s motto was “Cyber Resilience, Regulation & Sovereignty.”

“Cyber security affects businesses, public institutions, and critical infrastructure alike. As a higher education institution, we train professionals to tackle these challenges with a practical focus and conduct research into new solutions for improved IT security. Through the IT-SECX, we regularly bring the IT security community together to discuss the latest developments”, says Johann Haag, CEO of USTP.

“Cyberdome”: A Shield to Protect the Nation

The technical session kicked off with a keynote address by Jens Wiesner, Head of the Division for Industrial Control and Automation Systems at the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Under the title “Cyberdome als ganzheitlicher Schutzschirm für eine Nation. Von Idee und Vision zur technischen Realisierung“ (Cyberdome as a Holistic Shield for a Nation. From Idea and Vision to Technical Implementation), he addressed the question of how comprehensive protection against cyber threats can be conceived and technically implemented at the national level.

Following the keynote, the programme continued in four parallel tracks. In addition to regulation, sovereignty, and cyber resilience – this year’s focal points – the sessions covered the defence against cyberattacks, offensive security techniques, and new technologies.

From Real-Time Threat Detection to AI Sovereignty

Constanze Roedig of SBA Research focused on real-time threat detection directly on individual systems. Her presentation addressed how threats can be detected locally while saving time and reducing data volume.

Florian Haselsteiner from Bitpanda and USTP spoke about security issues in XPC communication in his presentation “XPC Client Validation? Music to my ears!”.
USTP graduate Ilyas Demirtas and Kai Starik, both from Deloitte Consulting, discussed the role of AI in resilience, regulation, and sovereignty.
Further contributions covered topics including NIS-2, attacks on Active Directory environments, malware in critical infrastructure, drone security, lockpicking, OT security, post-quantum cryptography, and email spoofing.

“Actively fostering an IT security community is very important in times of heightened security requirements, and we are pleased that our department is able to make a quite successful contribution in this regard”, said USTP lecturer Thomas Brandstetter, organiser and chair of the IT-SECX programme committee.

Cyber Escape Room, Graduate Lounge, and Company Exhibition

In addition to the presentations, the programme also included opportunities for personal interaction, for example in the Graduate Lounge. The Austrian Armed Forces’ Cyber Escape Room offered a playful introduction to the topic of IT security. At the company exhibition, 18 companies presented their latest solutions and took the opportunity to engage in networking with up-and-coming talents.

To conclude the event, USTP lecturer Daniel Haslinger and Christoph Lang-Muhr, Academic Director of USTP’s master degree programme Information Security, looked back on the developments and events of the past year in their presentation titled “cat/var/log/news_2026.”

About the IT-SECX

The IT Security Community Exchange (IT-SECX) is the annual specialist conference hosted by USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten dedicated to current topics in IT security. Organised by the Department of Computer Science & Security, it brings together school pupils, students in higher education, researchers, teachers, companies, industry experts, and IT security enthusiasts. The IT-SECX combines insights from teaching and applied research with practical experience and addresses developments that are shaping cyber security today and will continue to do so in the future.

Read more here: https://itsecx.ustp.at