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Fraunhofer SIT opens new location in Münster
Fraunhofer SIT's research activities are being expanded to include another core topic, cybersecurity in medicine. Under the direction of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Schinzel, a new research department is being established for this purpose at the new Münster location in Westphalia. Prof. Schinzel has held a professorship at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Münster University of Applied Sciences since 2013, and is considered one of the leading experts on applied cryptography, cybersecurity and the security of medical information technology.
Cybersecurity for hospitals and medical practices
The research of the new department in Münster is closely oriented to the needs of hospitals, medical practices and other medical facilities as well as medical device manufacturers. How can medical IT be protected against cyberattacks and made compliant with legal requirements? How to secure networked medical devices against hacker attacks? How can sensitive healthcare data and internal hospital processes be protected from unauthorized access? These and similar questions will be addressed by the new team.
Resilience is also a topic for the new department. "Numerous recent successful cyberattacks on hospitals show that in practice they are not adequately protected against attacks. Attack detection and response are thus gaining in importance," explains Sebastian Schinzel. For example, he has been working for some time on how a hospital can still ensure functioning emergency operations in the midst of a cyber attack. Sebastian Schinzel will also contribute his expertise to the further training courses offered by the Fraunhofer Learning Laboratory for Cybersecurity. Courses in IT security in the healthcare sector and in applied cryptography are planned.
New Research Department
With the new research department "Applied Cryptography and Medical IT Security" not only the range of topics of Fraunhofer SIT grows, but also a new location in Münster is created. This will be the third larger domestic research location of the institute, besides Darmstadt and Sankt Augustin near Bonn. With the Münster University of Applied Sciences, the institute gains another academic partner with a close grown cooperation between medicine and technology. At the new Fraunhofer SIT location, the institute will also work closely with ATHENE scientists.