Interview • 16.06.2022
Safety first
Successful conclusion of the HITS-Moni research project
The HITS-Moni research project, which addressed "IT security monitoring and information exchange in the Hamburg port industry," has come to a very successful conclusion. The inter-organizational research team, which included information security expert Torsten Fokuhl from DAKOSY, was honored with the Hamburg Security Award.
Fact sheet
- Research project: Harbor IT-Security Monitoring (HITS-Moni)
- Part of the funding program for Innovative Port Technologies (IHATEC II)
- Project duration: 03/19 - 02/22
- Project volume: 1.2 million euros
- Collaboration partner: HHLA Hamburg Hafen und Logistik AG
- Project partners: DAKOSY, University of Hamburg Department of Computer Science
Three questions for Torsten Fokuhl
Why does the Hamburg port sector need a specific IT security concept?
In logistics, we have a specific combination of IT-controlled technology, such as container gantry cranes, and very complex processes involving many partners. This leads to unique challenges for IT security, which are compounded by the rapidly advancing digitalization in the port industry. The associated networking of previously-isolated systems increases the threats by hackers and cyber attacks.
What was the focus of the project?
Many sensors, such as firewalls or virus scanners, generate an overwhelming number of messages that can easily confuse people and are not particularly meaningful when interpreted individually. These reports become valuable when they are combined, classified and evaluated according to their relevance to the process in question. The core of HITS-Moni was to correlate a large number of signals, some of them rather faint, in such a way that only messages that give valid indications of threats to critical systems are reported.
What were the results?
There is a demonstrator on which the results of the scientific work can be tested live. This is now to be implemented in regular operation by the joint venture partner, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA). Using artificial intelligence, the demonstrator automatically detects anomalies and thus also identifies new forms of attack patterns.
