micro-credential
E-Business Management
Do you want to actively shape digital business models while keeping an eye on their security and ethics? This micro-credential provides hands-on training in how to design e-commerce and e-government systems, develop distributed IT infrastructures, and secure web applications against attacks. You’ll learn not only how to implement digital processes from a technical standpoint, but also how to reflect on them from a social and ethical perspective. Flexibly expand your digital skills alongside your career and daily life.
Find continuing education
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E-Business, E-Government, E-Democracy, and E-Commerce. In this micro-credential, you'll learn what these terms are all about.
This micro-credential in the field of "Digital Business" can be earned as part of an existing FERNFH degree program or as a standalone short program designed exclusively to lead to this qualification.
This micro-credential is offered as part of theInformation Technology | Master's program.
Courses
- Distributed Systems (3 ECTS, Winter Semester)
- E-Commerce Systems (3 ECTS, Winter Semester)
- E-Government (3 ECTS, Summer Semester)
- Cybersecurity I: Ethical Hacking (3 ECTS, Summer Semester)
Skill development
Upon successful completion, students will be able to …
- to investigate the potential applications of distributed systems and cloud computing.
- to design the architectures and protocols of distributed systems.
- to design a prototype of a distributed system.
- to develop a prototype of a distributed system in practice.
- To understand the definitions of the terms “e-government” and “e-democracy,” as well as terms related to these subject areas, and to place them in context with other subject areas.
- to utilize e-government and e-democracy technologies and to further develop concepts for existing solutions.
- to assess the impact of e-government and e-democracy applications on society.
- Understand the fundamentals of successfully building, operating, and further developing e-commerce systems.
- Developing concepts for new online store systems.
- to evaluate the technical and organizational requirements, as well as the strategic considerations, of international e-commerce systems.
- to understand the importance of secure web application development.
- List and prevent the 10 most common web application attacks according to OWASP and their effects.
- Identify attack vectors and vulnerabilities and develop strategies to protect against them.
- Integrating security components into a security strategy.
- To understand that many attempted attacks exploit people’s willingness to help, ignorance, or carelessness, and to know what social engineering means and how to protect themselves against it.
- Recognizing social engineering and developing strategies to protect against it.
- to reflect on ethical issues.
- to be able to identify the gray areas between what is legal and what is ethically correct.
Duration of the program: 2semesters
Scope: 12 ECTS credits
Level: 7 – Graduate
Cost: €599 plus ÖH membership fee
Application deadline: July 31, 2026
Start: September 25, 2026
Application deadlines
01. Jan. 1970
Micro-credentials are typically worth 5–15 ECTS credits, which generally corresponds to two to five courses. Once you have successfully completed all the courses that make up the learning path, you will receive your micro-credential—in the form of a printed certificate and a digital badge.
Individual courses must have been completed within a 5-year period in order to count toward a micro-credential.
As for the individual courses: Yes. They are structured and organized in such a way that they can usually be completed within the specified timeframe, even during busy periods. Otherwise, you might have to wait until the next academic year for exams to be offered again in your MC subject.
As for the entire MC: No. For example, if we suggest that you take two courses in the winter semester and two in the summer semester, you can also spread them out over four semesters, taking one course each semester. Or you can take even more courses and take a break in between.
The only important thing is that you must complete everything within five years of enrolling in the Micro-Credential.
In all courses that make up the MC, the course instructor must conduct a formal assessment of whether the learning outcomes have been achieved. This assessment is graded using the “school grading system,” similar to the courses in the degree programs. Simply acknowledging attendance in a course is not sufficient to earn an MC.
Exams can be administered as “open book” or “closed book,” as well as “online” or “on-site.”
Micro-credentials are organized through the degree programs at Ferdinand Porsche FERNFH.
The degree program varies depending on the micro-credential. You can find more information on the pages for each micro-credential.
If the MC is earned as part of a degree program, the relevant admission requirements apply. MCs offered as standalone short programs are considered “attendance in individual courses”; no formal admission requirements (e.g., completion of a qualification at a specific ISCED level) need to be met for these.
Subject-specific prerequisites (“relevant qualifications or knowledge”) may be required, and proof of fulfillment may be necessary. You can always find the prerequisites listed directly on the respective MC’s website.
Upon successful completion of the MC, you will be issued a certificate of completion.