Your internship must have a clear focus on cyber security. The majority of your work during the internship must consist of cyber security-related activities. This can include both technical and non-technical cyber security work. For example, work in information security management, governance, risk management, compliance or security certification is just as much in scope as technical security activities such as pentesting or working in a SOC. 

It is fine if some of your work involves general IT, software development, project management or business tasks. However, these should not make up the main part of your internship. 

Note: What matters is what you actually do, not the name of the company or department as in many departments cyber security relevant tasks are (or should be) performed.

Cyber security covers both technical and organizational activities. Suitable activities include: 

• Security operation centers (SOC) and incident response – security monitoring, analysis and handling of security incidents 
• Technical security analysis – projects involving the security analysis of networks, systems, or applications 
• Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) – supporting the implementation, operation or improvement of an ISMS 
• Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) – security policies, risk assessments, compliance activities and the implementation and evaluation of security controls 
• Security audits and assessments – preparing, supporting or following up on internal or external audits and security assessments (e.g. ISO/IEC27001, NIS2) 
• Secure software development – integrating security into the software development lifecycle through secure coding, security requirements, code reviews, application security testing or DevSecOps practices 
• Digital forensics – investigating and analyzing security incidents 
• Security testing and vulnerability management – identifying, assessing and managing vulnerabilities 
• Security consulting – supporting organizations in improving their technical or organizational security 
• Identity and access management – improving the security or reviewing the security of the identity and access management 
• Cyber crisis and emergency management – business continuity, incident management and preparation for cyber crises
• Security awareness – developing or evaluating security awareness and training measures 
• Security-related research and development This list is not exhaustive. 

Both technical and non-technical activities are suitable as long as the majority of your work has a clear connection to cyber security or information security.

No, the company does not need to be a cyber security company, nor does your team need to be a dedicated security team. For example, you could complete your internship at a medium-sized manufacturing company and support its preparation for an ISO/IEC 27001 certification. In this case, you may work primarily with colleagues outside dedicated security roles while still performing activities that clearly fall within the field of cyber security and information security.

The internship is scheduled for the transition from the 5th to the 6th semester. It is worth looking for an internship early, particularly if you want to work for a specific company or complete your internship abroad.

The internship comprises 15 ECTS credits and must be completed full-time for at least 12 weeks. The standard workload is 450 hours. You can agree on a longer internship with the company. As a general rule, the internship cannot be completed on a part-time basis. An exception may only be granted if the Examination Board approves a hardship application (e.g. due to a medical condition).

You must have successfully completed at least 110 ECTS credits from the first four semesters. 

Your internship must also be approved before you start. For this, you need to submit the required application and internship agreement. Submission will be handled via a dedicated Moodle course. 

If you are unsure whether a position is suitable, clarify this with the internship coordinator before signing the agreement.

You can complete your internship at any company, public authority, research institution or another organization that can provide suitable cyber security tasks and professional supervision. The internship can be completed in Germany or abroad. You are responsible for finding and applying for an internship position.

Yes. You should have a contact person at the organisation who supervises your work and can answer questions about your tasks and the internship. 

At HTW Berlin, the internship coordinator is your contact for academic and organisational questions.

Small changes are normal. However, your internship must continue to have a clear cyber security focus. If your tasks change substantially and you are mainly assigned work unrelated to cyber security, please contact the internship coordinator immediately!

Internships can be paid or unpaid. HTW Berlin recommends appropriate remuneration. 

Payment and other employment conditions are agreed between you and the internship organization.

You must inform your internship organisation about absences according to its usual procedures. 

If your absences exceed 10% of the required working time, you will generally have to extend the internship accordingly.

To complete the internship, you need the required documentation, including: 

• confirmation of successful completion by the internship organisation, 
• an internship certificate/reference, and 
• an internship report signed by the internship organisation. 

The report should briefly describe the organisation, your main activities and how your work relates to Cyber Security and Business. The internship is assessed as pass/fail.

In some cases, previous professional experience can be recognized if it was done in full-time and prior to the start of your studies. The work must be equivalent to the specialist internship and must have a substantial cyber security or information security focus. Recognition must be requested and is not automatic. 

Please contact the internship coordinator if you think your previous professional experience may qualify. Note that you still have to provide the same documents, including an internship report signed by the organization regardless.

The internship and Bachelor thesis are separate parts of your studies, but they can be connected thematically. 

For example, a problem or project you encounter during your internship may provide a suitable topic for your Bachelor thesis.

Contact the internship coordinator for Cyber Security and Business (Prof. Dr. Becker) before accepting the position. Please send a short description of the internship and, most importantly, the tasks you would personally be working on. This makes it much easier to determine whether the internship meets the requirements

The HTW-Career service can be of assistance and has several events related to this. Check it out at https://events.htw-berlin.de/karriere/praktikumswochen

Please also make use of the forum in the Moodle course to help each other and provide tips on what helped and what did not help for getting an internship. There are also several sites for internships that might be helpful: e.g. in Praktikumsbörsen like: 

• www.praktika.de 
• www.ibusiness.de 
• www.unicum.de 
• www.arbeitsagentur.de 
• www.praktikum.info 
• www.praktikum-service.de 
• www.karriere.de 
• www.bildungsserver.de