Standing up to cyberattacks : Date:
More and more companies are being targeted by hackers. Deggendorf Institute of Technology and Augsburg University of Applied Sciences are now developing novel protective mechanisms against cyberattacks – with funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Due to the ongoing progress of digitisation, factories are already fully networked today: systems, machines and products communicate with each other and exchange information via the internet. In addition to its many advantages, however, networking also harbours some dangers: industrial plants and critical infrastructures are increasingly exposed to cyberattacks. The possible scenarios of such cyberattacks are diverse and range from shutting down entire production plants and manipulating products to classic industrial espionage.
How can companies protect themselves against threats from cyberattacks? This question is being investigated by a research team from Deggendorf Institute of Technology and Augsburg University of Applied Sciences as part of the joint project named Process Control Networks Security. Under the direction of Professors Peter Fröhlich and Gordon Thomas Rohrmair, intelligent sensors are being developed that continuously monitor the communication between the individual plant components in the production process. The data traffic is transmitted to administrators in the factories and checked by them for anomalies and irregularities. Thus, attacks by hackers can be detected at an early stage and specifically fended off.
The planned security mechanisms are to be used in various application areas. For this reason, the inter-university research team is first investigating different types of attacks on industrial networks and assigning them to different categories. Based on the application cases, the next step is to develop intelligent sensors that are tested together with partners from industry and then implemented in plants. The holistic research approach enables effective hazard prevention for industrial networks consisting of different hardware components and operating systems.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is supporting the research project with about 851,000 euros within the framework of the IngenieurNachwuchs funding line as part of the Research at Universities of Applied Sciences programme.