The legal department is changing and is increasingly taking on digital challenges and topics. This is not only due to LegalTech start-ups and more essays, but also to new books, such as the one presented today on cybersecurity.
Published: April 2020 in 1st edition
Publisher: Beck Verlag
Publisher: Dr. Dennis-Kenji Kipker
(Institute for Information, Health and Medical Law University of Bremen)
Price: 119 Euro
Target group: Legal scholars
Received as: Review copy
Only a few days ago the 597-page legal textbook “Cybersecurity” was published. With 17 chapters ranging from basic principles and structures to cross-industry specifications and aspects of international law, this textbook is at first glance comprehensive.
The 19 authors have written the total of 17 chapters, so that the respective chapters were written by one to three authors. This is a common practice today and after reading a chapter, this is not excessively noticeable in the language and structure used.
For books from the Beck-Verlag usual for the structure of the textbook in chapters, headings, note boxes and footnotes is clearly structured and structured. In this respect, the present book does not differ from others from the publishing house.
From my perspective, the textbook is very easy to read, because the spaces between the words and paragraphs are well chosen and the layout of the text is very well set. Especially for the fly-over and the fast reading, I find it outstanding that corresponding technical terms are highlighted in bold.
Content
In a next look at the content I took a closer look at three chapters/paragraphs. First of all the e-mail encryption, the development of individual software and for me interesting the chapter about the law of intelligence services of Warg. In all chapters I worked in a structured and clean way, the 25 selected footnotes were reproduced correctly. The content is well chosen and explained in a comprehensible way. I would particularly like to emphasize the note boxes and, especially in the chapter on intelligence law, the many footnotes, which underpin the very good text of the scientific work.
Without now reproducing the individual contents, this is altogether successful and very well prepared and scientifically sound for the target group. For me, the expectations have been fulfilled and I look forward to reading the next chapters and expanding my field of knowledge.
Wishes to the publisher
I always want a digital version of a book in a digital world of today. Furthermore, I would be happy about consultation hours or presentations of the book and discussions via videoconference to bring the topic and the book more into the public eye. The high quality of the book and the authors should not end in this book.
Wishes to the author
I wish for the continuation of the new textbook and of course the expansion of the chapters. For example, in the area of e-mail encryption one could add some more points. This is a wish that can also be seen as an ongoing process in a book, which is recorded as momentum by the publication of an edition.
If you still need an author, I would support.
Summary and evaluation
All in all, the first edition of the reference book has become a very successful copy with very good content. Unlike software, which is often released as beta or alpha version and is only available in the next versions, this is a productive version that has a secure place on my desk.
The work of the authors and the editor has been worthwhile and the content will, in my opinion, contribute to the fact that the topic is becoming more important in law as well as in IT and many misunderstandings will be cleared up.
A very good factual preparation from a legal and more often also technical point of view of the topic cybersecurity. I recommend the reference book for legal scholars and also Compliance and Security Officer in companies and consulting firms.
I am looking forward to the next edition and wish the authors continued success.