Vienna, 15 June 2023 - For many years, the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology has been supporting the improvement of cyber security in Europe, bringing together business, academia, experts and policy makers. Huawei, as an international technology company and leading provider of 5G technologies, is committed to increasing the resilience of 5G networks both in Austria and globally. On 14 June, AIT and Huawei jointly organized a 5G cyber security exercise at the “AIT Cyber Range – Training Center”, where participants could train their tactical-operational skills in this important field.
Deputy Minister of Austrian Finance Ministry Andreas Reichhardt emphasized the importance of cyber security for Austria as a business location said: "To live in today’s world means to constantly evolve in all aspects of infrastructure, technology and society. Cybersecurity helps us to ensure a future, where all such developments are made possible."
Cyber Range: Simulation of reality
With the increasing use of open standards and mainstream digital platforms, the threat to 5G networks is more present than ever. The mobile and cyber security industry has already responded to this with high 5G security standards and guidelines. "Cyber Ranges" are increasingly being used as the optimal form of testing and training cyber security teams in real-world scenarios and against real-world threats. This is a flexible, digital simulation environment in which the detection and defense of a wide variety of cyber attacks can be trained. Due to its established core competencies in the field of control systems for critical infrastructures, the AIT was appointed official security partner of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2022 and also regularly conducts transnational exercises with operators of critical infrastructures and authorities in Austria. This successful international positioning was only possible thanks to the special Austrian security research funding program KIRAS, which is financed by the BMF and enables the development of special expertise in Austria and supports close cooperation between research and public stakeholders.
Helmut Leopold, Head of Center for Digital Safety & Security at AIT said: "With the AIT Cyber Range, one of the world's most modern cyber security training platforms for the effective education and training of IT experts, management and policy makers, we are making a fundamentally important contribution to the design and operation of critical infrastructures. This enables us to position Austria as an international role model for digital security."
From theory to practice
To make the workshop as practical as possible, the fictitious mobile phone provider "Prime Net Mobile" was created as an internationally active company. A group of actors attempted to disrupt the company's business activities through targeted cyber attacks. Since the fictitious operator has branches in various European countries, both national and cross-border coordination, information and coordination processes had to be ensured when dealing with these incidents.
The respective teams had to master two tasks: On the one hand, they had to master technical and communicative tasks within the “AIT Cyber Range". On the other hand, the participants had to communicate with their respective authorities or contact persons. In addition, the Austrian national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) served as a contact point for the tactical-operational teams in the simulation along the NIS reporting system.
Kevin Wang, Huawei Europe Region Cyber Security Officer said: “Cybersecurity is Huawei’s top priority. We are pleased to work with AIT to build a platform for 5G cybersecurity practices, where we can raise cybersecurity awareness, develop cybersecurity talent, test cyber resilience, and do the research and validation”.
- Further information on Huawei Technologies Austria: https://grayling.uncovr.com/News.aspx?menueid=22194
- Further information about the AIT Cyber Range – Training Center: https://cyberrange.at/
Contact:
Michael W. Mürling
Marketing and Communications
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
Center for Digital Safety & Security
T +43 (0)664 235 17 47
michael.muerling(at)ait.ac.at I www.ait.ac.at