Existential Risks from Cyber and Information Space – High Security in Security-Critical and Defense-Relevant Scenarios (HSK)
- Status: Project phase
Background
IT infrastructures are of critical importance to society today. The currently discussed draft of the new KRITIS umbrella law emphasizes the relevance of critical infrastructures in cyber and information space.
Targeted attacks on these structures pose a potential threat to internal and external security. The task of HSK is to research new innovative approaches for the future protection of critical infrastructures. Within the program, an intra- and inter-perspective is adopted, whereby elements of the system, the system itself and the connection of systems represent explorative objects of investigation.
Aim
The aim of the program is to develop new capabilities for operational cyber security in order to prepare the authorities in the area of internal and external security in Germany for future threats in the digital space. These capabilities focus on problems and issues within four pillars (prevention, detection, response, and attribution) in operational cyber security. Specifically, HSK will contribute to basic research in the field of:
- automated vulnerability identification in particularly security-sensitive systems and their closure (e.g. triggered by cyber attacks on government networks),
- focusing and harmonizing response and forensics during cyber attacks, and
- establishing and ensuring unambiguity and indisputability in the attribution of cyber attacks.
Disruptive Risk Research
The disruptive nature of the program results from the combination of research into the four different pillars and creates different and diverse research approaches and methods for potential contractors.
Particularly disruptive approaches and basic research needs can be found in the area of attribution and require the combination of social and natural science disciplines.