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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
A milestone for IT security in Germany
Cyberagentur signs five contracts for the "Verifiably secure IT ecosystem" research program
The Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH (Cyberagentur) signs contracts with five companies for the research program "Ökosystem vertrauenswürdige IT" (ÖvIT) / “Ecosystem of verifiably secure IT” on 20 January 2025. The aim of the program is the formal verification of provable IT security and the establishment of a network of experts and users.
"With the signing of the contracts for the "Ecosystem of verifiably secure IT" (ÖvIT) research program, the Cyberagentur has taken another decisive step towards technological sovereignty," emphasised Dr Markus Richter, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community and CIO of the German Federal Government, in his keynote speech at the contract signing ceremony, which he delivered via video link. "With this research program, we are strengthening Germany's position as a pioneer in cyber security." The event took place at the Leopoldina - National Academy of Sciences in Halle (Saale).
In addition to the keynote speech, the head of Cyberagentur's Dresden project office, Dr. Christoph Hof, spoke about the strategic goals and innovative character of this research program within the innovation agency's strategy. Aiming to raise IT security to a new level, Cyberagentur is pursuing mathematical and logical methods with ÖvIT. The absence of significant security vulnerabilities is to be made verifiable – a crucial step in making highly complex IT systems and critical infrastructures more secure.
The focus of the research program is international and not only aimed at potential partners from Germany and the European Union, but also from NATO countries and beyond. "Due to the globalisation of supply chains, IT security as we see it does not care about physical borders," explains Prof. Dr Matthias Kranz, Head of the Cyberagentur's Secure Systems department. "As before, we have been able to build on a large international response to our calls for tenders, which is ultimately also reflected in the selection of the most innovative project partners with world-leading experts. This allows us to cooperate on IT security with friendly nations who share our values."
As part of ÖvIT, contracts were awarded to five national and international companies that will drive the project forward with specific focal points:
• “Formula-V” project
Barkhausen Institut gGmbH (Dresden) with subcontractors Technische Unversität Berlin, Ferrous Systems GmbH, Technische Universität Dresden, Kernkonzept GmbH, Fraunhofer AISEC (Munich)
• “PROTECT” project
German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) Bremen, with subcontractors RWTH Aachen, Cryspen SARL (Paris), Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (Berlin/Bonn), Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität (RPTU) Kaiserslautern, LUBIS EDA GmbH (Kaiserslautern), Universität zu Lübeck
• Project of the company Kry10 (Wellington, NZ)
with subcontractor Proofcraft (Sydney, AU)
• “Clash Formal” project
QBayLogic B. V., (Enschede, NL)
• “PISTIs-V” project
PlanV GmbH (Munich) with subcontractor University of New South Wales (Sydney)
The New Zealand Ambassador, H.E. Craig Hawke, showed particular interest in the project partners from his home country and was delighted that the start-up Kry10 from Wellington had made it into the implementation phase of the research program with its approach.
"ÖvIT not only stands for technological innovation," explained the program manager, Dr Sebastian Jester, Head of Secure Hardware and Supply Chains in the Cyberagentur's Secure Systems department, "but also for building an active community of researchers, commercial providers and users". Aim is to simplify the usability of formal verification methods and promote the transfer of knowledge. "An important step for community building is that the Cyberagentur will become a member of the seL4 Foundation at the start of the ÖvIT projects," continued Dr Jester. In the Kry10 and PlanV projects, the Cyberagentur is financing inter alia the further development of seL4, the formally verified operating system microkernel that is freely available and verifiable as an open source project and whose maintenance is coordinated by the seL4 Foundation. The Cyberagentur's membership emphasises the importance of this approach to cyber security and is intended to attract further supporters.
The Cyberagentur is financing the research program with around 42 million euros over the next four years. The initial step were five preliminary studies, which the Cyberagentur used to survey the state of the art and define research priorities for the projects now starting. The program was defined and put out to tender in the Cyberagentur's "Secure Systems" department and ist transferred to the Dresden project office headed by Dr Christoph Hof as of today’s project launch: “We are looking forward to working with the project partners out of Dresden as our first major program and to become the center of the new Ecosystem of verifiably secure IT”.
Contact:
Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH
Große Steinstraße 19
06108 Halle (Saale)
Michael Lindner
Press Officer
Phone: +49 151 44150 645
e-mail: presse@cyberagentur.de
Background: Cyberagentur
The Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH (Cyberagentur) was founded by the German Federal Government in 2020 as a fully in-house company of the Federal Government under the joint leadership of the German Federal Ministry of Defence and the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community with the aim of adopting a cross-departmental view of internal and external security in the field of cybersecurity with a focus on application strategy. Against this backdrop, the work of the Cyberagentur is largely aimed at the institutionalised implementation of highly innovative projects that are associated with a high risk in terms of achieving the objectives, but at the same time can have a very high potential for disruption if successful.
The Cyberagentur is part of the National Security Strategy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Cyberagentur is headed by Prof Dr Christian Hummert as Scientific Director and Managing Director and Daniel Mayer as Commercial Director.
Dr Sebastian Jester, Head of Secure Hardware and Supply Chains in the Cyberagentur's Secure Systems department
https://www.cyberagentur.de/en/press/a-milestone-for-it-security-in-germany/
https://www.cyberagentur.de/en/programs/evit/
https://www.cyberagentur.de/en/focal-points/safe-systems/
https://sel4.systems/
https://sel4.systems/news/#member-cyberagentur
https://www.leopoldina.org/
The project team led by Dr. Sebastian Jester (left) celebrates the official launch of the ÖvIT progr ...
Cyberagentur
Cyberagentur, 2025
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The project team led by Dr. Sebastian Jester (left) celebrates the official launch of the ÖvIT progr ...
Cyberagentur
Cyberagentur, 2025
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