There is great excitement among cybersecurity researchers in Germany’s Ruhr area: Yesterday, the German Excellence Commission approved the extension of the CASA Cluster of Excellence. Among the Principal Investigators (PIs) is Prof. Dr. Lucas Davi, Director of paluno – The Ruhr Institute for Software Technology.

Cyberattacks are on the rise worldwide, increasingly targeting hospitals, public institutions, and critical infrastructures. At the same time, state-sponsored attacks are escalating the threat situation, aiming to disrupt democratic processes and endanger societal security and well-being.

To effectively address these challenges, CASA - Securing the Digital Society develops innovative security mechanisms that make digital systems more resilient. CASA takes a research approach that is unique in Europe: it combines cutting-edge technological innovation with insights into the social and human aspects of cybersecurity. This interdisciplinary perspective makes CASA a leading center for holistic cybersecurity research.

Prof. Dr. Lucas Davi, Director of paluno - The Ruhr Institute for Software Technology, contributes his expertise in system and software security. “At CASA we develop novel security solutions that remain effective under realistic attack scenarios – without slowing down system performance,” explains Davi. “We take a comprehensive view of IT security across all system layers: from hardware-level protections to identifying vulnerabilities in decentralized applications.”

CASA is based at the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security at Ruhr University Bochum. Other participating institutions are the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum, the Technical University of Berlin, the University of Bonn and the University of Duisburg-Essen. Funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) began on January 1, 2019. After an initial term of seven years, the Cluster of Excellence has now been extended until December 31, 2032.

About the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments

The aim of the Excellence Strategy is to strengthen Germany’s position as an outstanding research hub in the long term and further improve its international competitiveness. The Clusters of Excellence funding line is designed to support project-based funding in internationally competitive fields of research at universities or university consortia. The DFG is responsible for developing and implementing this funding line and for publishing calls for proposals every 7 years.

Further Information: https://www.dfg.de/en/research-funding/funding-initiative/excellence-strategy 

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News from the Horst-Görtz-Instituts:https://hgi.rub.de/en/news/newsarchiv/hginews/excellence-strategy-casa-receives-funding-for-another-seven-years