News

© Fraunhofer SIT

New research project from ATHENE: Disinformation and Corona (DisCo)

Disinformation and fake news are circulating around the world about the corona pandemic. Especially on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, people share news that have not been checked, so that it spreads rapidly. "We are not only fighting a pandemic, but also an info-demie," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General. Researchers at Fraunhofer SIT want to meet this challenge in the DisCo project from the ATHENE research area Secure Digital Transformation in Health Care (SeDiTraH).

© Ulrike Albrecht

Apple AirDrop shares more than files

ATHENE researchers from TU Darmstadt have discovered that Apple users can not only share files with each other using AirDrop. Rather, uninvited persons can also access data. The resarchers developed a solution that could replace the insecure AirDrop. Apple was informed about the privacy gap, but has not yet closed it.

© Milan Stute

ATHENE researchers reveal vulnerabilities in the Apple operating system macOs

A research team led by ATHENE scientist Prof. Matthias Hollick from the TU Darmstadt has uncovered security gaps in the tracking app "Find my iPhone?" Offered by the Apple group.

In their paper “Who Can Find My Devices?” They publish the two vulnerabilities they identified in the macOS operating system. They presented the paper at the international flagship conference for data protection technologies "PETS - Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium".

VeraCrypt with minor flaws

Fraunhofer SIT press relase (German):
In der kostenlosen Open-Source-Verschlüsselungssoftware VeraCrypt wurden keine gravierenden Sicherheitslücken gefunden, allerdings gibt es Verbesserungsbedarf bei der Entwicklungspraxis und der Codequalität. Das ist das Ergebnis einer Sicherheitsanalyse der Expertinnen und Experten des Fraunhofer-Instituts für Sichere Informations­technologie SIT in Darmstadt, die im Auftrag des Bundesamts für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik BSI durchgeführt wurde. Die vollständigen Ergebnisse der Analyse sind in einer Studie zusammengefasst, die von der Webseite des BSI heruntergeladen werden kann: Download der Studie

© Fraunhofer SIT

AI helps to identify illegal cultural goods

Fraunhofer SIT press release (German):
Eine zentrale Herausforderung bei der Bekämpfung des illegalen Handels mit gestohlenen Kulturgütern besteht darin, dass illegal gehandelte Objekte nur schwer zu erkennen sind. Das von der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien geförderte Projekt KIKu – KI für den Kulturgutschutz – hat zum Ziel, die Arbeit der zuständigen Akteure, insbesondere von Zoll und Polizei, zu erleichtern: Hierzu entwickelt das Fraunhofer-Institut für Sichere Informations­technologie SIT gemeinsam mit der cosee GmbH eine App, die mit Hilfe von Künstlicher Intelligenz automatisiert Hinweise geben kann, ob beispielsweise eine antike Vase oder eine Statue aus einer Raubgrabung stammen könnte oder anders illegal erworben wurde. Das Projekt wurde gestern zahlreichen relevanten Akteuren auf dem Gebiet des Kulturgutschutzes aus Deutschland und der EU vorgestellt, die auf Einladung von Kulturstaatsministerin Monika Grütters zum 7. EU CULTNET-Treffen im Rahmen der deutschen EU-Ratspräsidentschaft zusammengekommen sind.

© Fraunhofer SIT

Data protection-friendly big-data analyses

The analysis of large amounts of data enables numerous improvements - in the fight against climate change as well as in medicine. At the same time, today's big-data analysis possibilities create entirely new risks for people's privacy. If data from different sources is combined in the analysis, it is often possible to combine supposedly anonymous data to create personal profiles, with sometimes unforeseeable consequences for the people concerned. A new study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT therefore shows how big-data technologies can be used without harming the privacy of individuals. The study is aimed at users and developers of big data systems and is available for free download at https://www.sit.fraunhofer.de/reports/

© iStock.com/gorodenkoff

ATHENE researchers contribute to new BMBF project CYWARN

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) launches its support for consortium project “Strategie- und Technologie-Entwicklung zur medienübergreifenden Erstellung eines Cyber-Lagebilds und akteurspezifischen Kommunikation von Cyber-Warnmeldungen“, CYWARN, from 1 October set to last for 3 years, with 2 million euros. ATHENE researcher Prof Christian Reuter, head of the chair for Science and Technology for Peace and Security (PEASEC), will coordinate the joint between partners in research, development and application.

APNIC blog discusses the recent proposal of ATHENE researchers to distribute the power of RPKI authorities

Internet infrastructure is still very vulnerable. Security enhancements such as Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) and Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) are based on cryptographic signatures. While private keys should theoretically be held by the owners of domains and Internet name resources, they are outsourced to centralised authorities in practice. This bearsconsiderable security risks.
In his post, ATHENE researcher Kris Shrishak, TU Darmstadt, proposes a change to RPKI that will strengthen the threat model and prevent unilateral takedown of IP prefixes by Regional Internet Registries (RIRs).

How secure is Machine Learning?

The value of security and privacy in machine learning approaches has been investigated by researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security AISEC, the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT, the National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity ATHENE and the Freie Universität Berlin in a joined study. Participants who work professionally or personally with machine learning approaches are still needed for the research project.

© Richard Mitev

Counter-espionage solution for eavesdropping devices Alexa & Co.

Together with partners from the U.S. and France, an ATHENE research team with members from the TU Darmstadt has developed a device that can detect Smart Home devices that stream audio recordings on the Internet without permission via language assistance.