Screenshot Apple Store

According to the federal government, the Covid certificate is a way to document a Covid 19 vaccination, a passed illness or a negative test result. The certificate includes the surname, first name, date of birth and a certificate number, as well as information about the Covid 19 vaccination, recovery or negative PCR test or rapid antigen test result.

The heart of the Covid certificate is the QR code. It makes the certificate forgery-proof thanks to an electronic signature from the Swiss Confederation and guarantees the authenticity of the Covid certificate, according to the Federal Department of Finance.

The Federal Council will decide in mid-June where the certificate will be used. How you get your Covid certificate depends on whether you want to document a Covid 19 vaccination, a passed disease or a negative test result.

In the meantime, the Federal Council has Info page updated. An iOS application is now available ready for download, an Android version will be released at a later date.

Source: Federal Department of Finance

The contact tracing app "Social Pass" is used by hospitality businesses in Switzerland to record contact data. The application consists of the three system components "Social Pass", "Social Scan" and a central database. When visiting a restaurant, guests use it to scan the QR code of the restaurant. The contact data is then automatically sent to a central database and stored there.

In addition to identifying organizational and technical deficiencies, the clarification of the facts by the Federal Data Protection Commissioner (Edoeb) now revealed in particular that the operators granted the health authorities in the cantons of Vaud and Valais direct access to the central database and made it available for almost any personal queries. The latter violated the principle of proportionality due to the lack of legal and technical restrictions on the possibilities of querying, according to Edoeb.

In April, the operators resisted an adjustment of the query options by the authorities. The operators have now been set a deadline of 30 days on May 28, 2021 to comment on the Edoeb report and recommendations and to point out any privacy or information protection interests in view of their publication.

Source: Edoeb

© Pixabay

As a report of the Swiss Federal Electricity Commission (Elcom) shows, Switzerland's high dependence on imports for its electricity demand leads to substantial risks over a long period of time, especially since the export capability of neighboring countries is reduced by the reduction or phase-out of nuclear and coal energy. At the same time, the dependence on political decisions abroad, be it from EU bodies or from regulators, is increasing.

In view of the enormous importance of a secure power supply, it would mean a considerable risk to operate the system at the limit for years. Based on these considerations, Elcom recommends that at least enough winter production be provided in Switzerland so that no more than 10 TWh need be imported in the winter half-year.

Very good quality of care in Switzerland

However, Switzerland still belongs to the group of countries with the highest quality of supply in Europe. As in previous years, Elcom calculated the power quality based on the interruption reports of more than three minutes from the 94 largest network operators in Switzerland. These represent 88 percent of the energy feed-out in Switzerland.

However, the figures show that under-recoveries develop disproportionately compared with over-recoveries. Grid operators have to charge interest on over-recoveries to the benefit of end consumers, whereas interest may be charged on under-recoveries. Network operators could also deliberately create under-recoveries in order to skim off interest profits due to the current favorable financing opportunities. Elcom will intensify its activities to reduce under-recoveries in the current year.

All documents are available on the ElCom website (www.elcom.admin.ch) can be viewed.

For the past year, Suva has been inspecting construction sites in particular, as well as various commercial and industrial companies, in the implementation of the Covid 19 measures. In 19,245 company inspections that took place from March 2020 to the end of April 2021, safety experts had to initiate temporary work stoppages in only 62 cases.

Fast reactions and communication at eye level

During their visits, Suva's safety experts were able to communicate with companies and employees at eye level. The canton of Zurich saw the most inspections, followed by the canton of Vaud. In each of these two cantons, around 2500 company inspections were carried out by the end of April 2021. The third most companies were inspected in the canton of Bern, with around 2000. However, the farms had generally reacted quickly.

All in all, experience has shown that the vast majority of companies take the protective measures seriously and implement them consistently in order to protect the health of their employees as best as possible, Suva writes in a statement.

Mask obligation still important

Nevertheless, recently, with regard to the obligation to wear masks when working outdoors, where the safety distance cannot be guaranteed, or when working indoors, the consistent implementation of the required mask obligation has slackened somewhat.

"The protection of employees must continue to be taken seriously, even if the number of cases is falling. Here, employers have a duty to continue to consistently enforce protective measures," André Meier, head of the occupational safety and health department at Suva, is quoted as saying.

Source: Suva

From the "Autowindow" of the Bern University of Applied Sciences, there is a follow-up project. It is being further developed under the name "M-Window" to enable the digitization of window systems for end users.

Like competence area manager Urs Uehlinger at the "Windays", a symposium of the window and facade industry in Switzerland, elaborated, ventilation, safety and noise functions are to be automated, while at the same time improving energy efficiency. One of the challenges is to intelligently combine sound insulation and ventilation. Bedroom windows in urban areas, for example, require such a combination.

The original project consisted of a Feasibility study on the economic efficiency of functioning automatic windows for residential buildings. The key points are criteria such as minimizing the noise generated by a window drive, research at the interface with building technology, and, for example, decoupling the locking mechanism from the rotary movement mechanism. The project will run until 2023.

The Workshop of the Future, initiated by the Bern University of Applied Sciences, is intended to provide an open and neutral development and demo environment at full scale for this purpose.

Source: Bern University of Applied Sciences

Am 4. Juni wird der Bundesrat voraussichtlich über die technische Lösung eines Schweizer Covid-Zertifikates informieren. Ein Public Security Test wird vom Nationalen Zentrum für Cybersicherheit (NCSC) geleitet. Aufgrund des engen Zeitplans wurden bislang beim Bund stichprobenhafte Untersuchungen durch das Nationale Testinstitut für Cybersicherheit (NTC) durchgeführt. Um die bisherigen Erkenntnisse zusätzlich weiter abzustützen, wird das System nun durch weitere Fachleute und interessierte Personen einem Härtetest unterzogen.

Das Ziel des Public Security Test (PST) sei es, die Sicherheit des Covid-Zertifikats zu testen und Vertrauen vor dem öffentlichen Rollout aufzubauen. Der Public Security Test läuft seit dem 31. Mai 2021. Der Bund möchte die Funktionsweise und die Sicherheit des Covid Zertifikats so transparent wie möglich gestalten.

Ab sofort steht deshalb der Quellcode des Covid-Zertifikats auch öffentlich zur Verfügung. Die Erkenntnisse aus den bisher durchgeführten Tests werden in den nächsten Tagen veröffentlicht. Meldungen von Testergebnissen erfolgen auf der Webseite des NCSC und können dort via Formular erfasst werden.

Quelle: Nationales Zentrum für Cybersicherheit (NCSC) 

A report by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) concludes that Switzerland does "relatively well" in the area of data processing and data security compared to the EU. For example, the concepts of Open Data and Shared Data are fundamentally based on the principle of voluntariness. These would reflect the liberal conception of the Swiss economy and culture and guarantee the private sector the greatest possible independence, it continues.

These elements are "priority and promising approaches" for the voluntary exchange of factual data in the private sector. In this context, the IGP points to the changes in the European environment: A common goal should be to either make Swiss data spaces technically and legally compatible with their European counterparts, or to ensure that private sector actors in our country have access to European data spaces, the IPI writes in a release.

Source: www.ige.ch

Pixabay

To ensure that the dosage of painkillers can be determined and kept constant for each individual patient in the spirit of personalized medicine, Empa researchers, together with a team from the University of Bern, are using the innovative research field of computer and data sciences. The team led by Thijs Defraeye from Empa's "Biomimetic Membranes and Textiles" laboratory in St. Gallen is using multiphysics modeling to develop a digital twin of the human body that allows the course of therapy to be controlled and predicted.

In the mathematical models on which the complex digital doppelganger is based, the researchers have taken into account a large number of variables from real people, such as age and lifestyle. This is because the effect of a drug is influenced by a wealth of physical parameters that can vary greatly from person to person.

"When we create an avatar, we take into account, for example, how the drug is metabolized in the living body during treatment and how much ultimately arrives at the pain center in the human brain," explains Empa researcher Defraeye.

In the mathematical models on which the complex digital doppelganger is based, the researchers have taken into account a large number of variables from real people, such as age and lifestyle. This is because the effect of a drug is influenced by a wealth of physical parameters that can vary greatly from person to person.

"When we create an avatar, we take into account, for example, how the drug is metabolized in the living body during treatment and how much ultimately arrives at the pain center in the human brain," explains Empa researcher Defraeye.

Pain therapy using transdermal patches is just the beginning of avatar-assisted treatment: In collaboration with clinics and hospitals, Empa researchers now want to optimize other therapies such as insulin administration for diabetes using digital twins.

Source: Empa

In modernizing its ATMs, Migros Bank has commissioned Siemens to install a modern security system. According to a Siemens statement, the core elements of the SPC hazard detection control center are various future-oriented operating and transmission options. In the event of manipulation, such as an attempted break-in, the new security system transmits an image of the situation to an alarm center.

Iwan Raz, Portfolio Consultant for Security Systems at Siemens Switzerland, emphasizes the good cooperation between the security specialists from Siemens and Migros Bank.

There is talk of a total of 100 modified or newly built ATMs with the new security system. According to Siemens, these have been in operation since April 2020, first in Zurich and then at other locations throughout Switzerland. With the security upgrade, Migros Bank is ensuring that its cash assets are protected around the clock and monitored in a technologically advanced manner.

Source: Siemens

The number of serious accidents and serious injuries in public transport decreased again in 2020 after a temporary increase in 2019. This is shown by the FOT Safety Report 2020 out. A total of 178 serious accidents were reported to the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) last year. Twenty-seven people were killed and 122 seriously injured. Among the fatalities are three passengers who were traveling on public transport. 14 people died because they were unauthorized on rail facilities, eight people lost their lives in accidents involving public transport vehicles and two employees of transport companies died.

Many accidents on construction sites compared to Europe

With the "lockdown" from March to May 2020 ordered by the Federal Council to combat the Corona pandemic, public transport was severely thinned out. Accordingly, the number of passengers and the kilometers they traveled dropped significantly. After the "lockdown," they increased again, but remained below the levels of recent years. It is difficult to estimate the impact on safety. Accident figures might have been higher without the corona-related restrictions last year.

However, a considerable proportion of accidents on public transport are caused irrespective of the number of people on board, for example when signals are not heeded. Compared with other countries in Europe, Switzerland performs very well overall in terms of rail safety, ranking second overall. One exception is occupational accidents, especially on construction sites. Here, Switzerland still lags behind in a European comparison. This is partly due to the fact that in Switzerland, operations continue during construction and renovation work. To improve the situation, the FOT continues to focus on safety supervision in this area.

Source: Federal Office of Transport

At a meeting on May 12, 2021, the Federal Council approved the annual Threat Report in accordance with Art. 70 of the Intelligence Service Act (ISA). One chapter in the provisional report is devoted to "Prohibited Intelligence". Switzerland continues to be strongly affected by state espionage activities, but also by non-state actors. The focus is on authorities, parliament, the army, research institutes, the media and various economic sectors. Geneva was repeatedly targeted by prohibited intelligence activities. Foreign intelligence services also targeted critics of the regime, members of the opposition, and members of ethnic or religious minorities in Switzerland.

Right-wing extremist groups restructure

The potential for violence from right-wing and left-wing extremism continues to exist. Both scenes are well networked internationally. Right-wing extremists tend to be more restrained in their use of violence, but have a larger number of weapons at their disposal and practice martial arts. Structurally, the right-wing extremist scene is currently changing. In German-speaking Switzerland, for example, there have been regroupings and cooperation with younger groups. However, the risk of attacks motivated by right-wing extremism is definitely present.

Several attacks abroad had shown that extremist perpetrators of violence were also crossing the border into terrorism. In Switzerland, however, there were only isolated indications of such a development.

Corona skeptics targeted by left-wing extremists

The thematic areas of the left-wing extremist groups can be summarized under the keywords "anti-capitalism," "migration and asylum," "anti-fascism" and "anti-repression. For example, the scene has included the topic of "corona skeptics" in its repertoire because it assigns some of these people to the far-right scene. Left-wing extremists therefore organize counter-events time and again.

Another chapter covers attacks on critical infrastructure. Several Swiss federal agencies and private companies fell victim to foreign cyberattacks last year. Moreover, cybercriminals are constantly diversifying their patterns. Overall, the ability of international security organizations to act is decreasing, while the importance of a multistakeholder approach is increasing, the report concludes.

Source: NDB 

The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) has published its 2020 annual report and identified several critical infrastructures. For example, some banks would no longer comply with the obligation to report cyber incidents. In addition, there are increasing indications of cyber risks in the building control system of the federal administration.

Among other things, this concerns the networking of the application systems as well as security gaps in the safety and security systems. The Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics (FBL) has acknowledged the SFAO's issues and initiated "immediate corrective measures," according to a statement. A drastic increase was also noted in whistleblower reports. A total of 484 reports were received. In 2019, there were 187. The significant increase was largely due to reports in the health crisis, it said.

The 2020 Annual Report is available on the SFAO website: www.efk.admin.ch

Source: SFAO