Developing a Science of Cybersecurity

It took scientists millennia to develop an official system of measurement (i.e. the metric system) for the physical world. We are still at the very beginning of developing a “metric system” for cyber space. We develop methods and tools and analyse data to help stakeholders answer the question how secure is secure enough.

Verification and Validation

Almost every IT system that we use is complex. Nobody really understands in detail how it works. And every system contains many mistakes. Every single mistake looks like a wide open door to an attacker trying to hack into the system. Humans cannot deal with this complexity, so we are working on automated tools that can.

Cyber Physical Systems

Cyber and physical spaces are becoming more intertwined, and you can now control your home appliances and even your car from your smart phone. If you can, then your neighbour can also... and so can a cyber attacker! It might just be annoying if this happened. But it would be catastrophic if the attacker targets all home appliances of an entire city, or the power grid, or the water distribution system. We are developing methods to understand and manage these risks, and keep your physical world secure against cyber attackers.

Secure Hardware

Hardware, like software is complex, and full of mistakes that attackers can exploit. However, unlike software, the electronics may leak data for example through electro-magnetic radiation. We are working on designs that reduce the leakage.

Network Security

Networks connect almost all 6 billion inhabitants of planet earth. You can phone, chat or mail friends and family wherever they are, at almost no cost. But an attacker can reach you too with the same ease. We are tracking down attackers by collecting and sifting through massive amounts of data, without jeopardising the privacy of law-abiding citizens.

Security and Privacy by Design

Engineers now know how to build strong, but affordable bridges. They have learned from their mistakes over thousands of years. Cyber space is considerably more complex than even the most sophisticated bridge. We have hardly had the time to learn from our mistakes. We are on the road of trial and error now, hoping that we will eventually be able to design security and privacy in the same rigorous way that engineers design bridges.