Workshop Session - July 21, 2021

The Workshop Session started with a welcome and overview over the agenda by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hommel (Technical Director, RI CODE). Workshops took place in parallel from 09.00 till 12.30.

Workshop 1 - Is this You? The looming crisis of identity and authenticity in mediated reality and how it will affect international politics and economy

Many interactions in the modern world are mediated using photos, sound, video. We communicate via social network platforms, traditional media or synchronous communication over phone or video-conferencing platforms and are used to trust the information that is displayed.

We observe a fast-rising ecosystem of tools that will soon be accessible to everyone, that allow for manipulation and fabrication of photos, sound, and video. Not far from now, such fabricated media will even be possible to distort reality in real-time and soon be virtually indistinguishable from authentic material.

Does this person actually say and do what they seem to say and do? Is this person who is talking to you even alive? Is this your boss or an imposter, your business partner in Asia or a con man, the diplomate of another nation or a political adversary?

The consequences of such phenomena are manifold and influence the political, economic, military, social and psychological realm significantly. Political consensus might be harder to achieve, democratic processes are at risk and the security of the state might be more vulnerable due to manipulated communication.

All of this boils down to one question: how can trust be established in a modern world, where no individual mediated identity can be trusted, authenticity cannot be established easily and reliably and all channels will be flooded with fakes?

This workshop will assess several dimensions of this question and elaborates technical, political and social strategies to cope with the massive amount of manufactured media and the establishment of trust in future communication

Agenda

• Niko Sarris, Information Technology Institute
• Alexander Schindler, AIT - Austrian Institute of Technology
• Dominika Hajdu, Globsec

• Workshop presentation on "Post-digital authenticity: perspectives from digital humanism",  Erich Prem, Eutema GmbH/TU Wien >>Video

Workshop 2 - Digital identity and identification: Secure remote identity verification

The secure remote verification of identities is becoming increasingly important. This process has already been observed over the past few years. The COVID-19 pandemic was one reason for the growing relevance of remote authentications that developed much faster than originally expected. Once authentication credentials have been issued, they can be used for further authentication. But where can such credentials be derived from? In many cases, this is done on the basis of video sessions, in which people and their identification documents can be inspected by remote attendants. Such sessions can be attacked and must be secured by suitable tools, e.g. for detection of morphing attacks and transmission of deep fakes. The workshop examines the current status of this approach and discusses future steps.

Agenda

• Prof. Dr. Hartmut Aden, Berlin School of Economics and Law
• Prof. Dr. Jana Dittmann, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
• Prof. Dr. Peter Eisert, Fraunhofer HHI
• Dr. Eleanor Hobley, ZITiS
• Dr. Ulrich Neuhaus-Steinmetz, LKA Berlin
• Dr. Andreas Wolf, Bundesdruckerei GmbH (moderator)

• Workshop presentation on "explaining deep neural network decisions for secure verification" by Prof. Dr. Peter Eisert, Fraunhofer HHI >>Video
• Workshop presentation on "security technology and transparency" by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Aden, Dr. Jan Fährmann, Prof. Dr. Sabrina Schönrock, Berlin School of Economics and Law >>Video
• Workshop presentation on "liveness detection and deep fakes status quo" by Ann-Kathrin Freiberg, BioID GmbH >>Video
• Workshop presentation about "fake identity detection in speech data" by Nicolas Müller, Fraunhofer AISEC >>Video
• To download the workshop summary, please click >>here

 

Workshop 3 - Quantum Communication

Quantum communication is a rapidly evolving field which promises a leap in the security of key distribution. This workshop, organized by the team of CODE’s very own quantum communication project, MuQuaNet, aims at bringing together physicists, computer scientists, engineers and other disciplines for a lively exchange about the diverse challenges in the field of quantum communication, ranging from optical devices, electronics and satellite systems to software interfaces and security proofs.

Agenda

9.30 | Introduction | MuQuaNet-Team

9.45 | Talk 1: Integrating QKD in Classical Satellite Operations – The Challenges ahead | Andreas Spörl und Jan Pitann, DLR Oberpfaffenhofen

10.15 | Talk 2: Small is beautiful - Integrating QKD with classical communication links | Harald Weinfurter, LMU

10.45 | Coffee break

11.00 | Talk 3: Security of QKD from BSI’s perspective | Tobias Hemmert, BSI

11.30 | Talk 4: QKD Devices: Interfaces and the Classical World Around | Stefan Röhrich, Rohde&Schwarz

12.00 | Panel Discussion on Current Challenges in QKD | All Speakers

12.30 | Wrap up & Lessons Learned | MuQuaNet-Team

Materials

• Workshop presentation about "Integrating QKD in Classical Satellite Operations" by Andreas Spörl und Jan Pitann, DLR Oberpfaffenhofen >>Video
  
  

Workshop 4 - Applications of Quantum Computing

Quantum Science and Technology are advancing at a high pace and are massively funded by both, national initiatives and industries. During the current pandemic national funding efforts towards building quantum computers have been even further enhanced.

This workshop discusses the national initiatives with a focus on Israel and presents recent applications of quantum computers in quantum machine learning, routing problems and supply chain optimization.

Materials

Workshop 5 - Bio-Cyber-Security Risks and Opportunities at the intersection of Health Service, Biotechnology and Cyber

BioCyberSecurity (BCS) is a relatively new field that seeks to protect digitalized biological and health data to safeguard the individual, public, health care infrastructure and the development of biotechnological innovation. Exponential growth in the digitization of biology and biotechnology are beneficial across a range of sectors in research and the bioeconomy. But such advances should also raise concerns about new risks/threats that are not exclusive in either the ‘cyber’ or ‘biosecurity’ but are a hybridized domain in itself.

The "German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies" has initiated an international working group and recently published a WhitePaper on this matter. During this workshop, the WhitePaper is presented and will be discussed. We recommend reading the WhitePaper ahead for the workshop.

The following questions should guide the discussion among the participants.

• How must be a BCS Index designed to be useful for technical, security, and policy purposes?
• Where should the focus be prioritized to identify vulnerabilities (including those underreported and currently neglected) and where can efforts be joint to combat BCS threats (Healthcare infrastructure, pharma, biotech, bioeconomy, cybersecurity, etc)
• How could a comprehensive interdisciplinary mechanism of technical, industrial, and policy experts look like to mitigate BCS threats beyond their national security to develop new paradigms for information gathering, intelligence and analysis?

Agenda

 

Workshop 6 - Future Cyber Threat Analysis

+++ Unfortunately, workshop 6 had to be been cancelled by the organizers +++

Aim and Scope

In this workshop conducted by Bundeswehr Cyber Security Centre (ZCSBw) we will reflect state-of-the-art techniques within the field of Cyber Threat Analysis (CTA) and explore current challenges both from a practitioner’s view as well as from an academic perspective.  We aim to identify future fields of research and development by identifying current shortfalls such as technology gaps, implementation problems, information sharing and interoperability issues as well as challenges in the field of cyber threat knowledge management in order to derive future requirements for the military as well as for the public and the private sector, and to inspire and foster capability development and enhancement in this discipline.

Format and Planned Activities

The workshop will have five working groups, each syndicate working on a specific question about the subject. As an introduction, the workshop will start with a plenary session having an academic keynote speech to set the scene for the working groups. The results of the syndicate work will be presented in a wrap up plenary session, concluded by a keynote focusing on future development and the way ahead. For both keynotes and syndicates, we invited academic partners (Gartner, Fraunhofer FKIE) contributing as subject matter experts. In addition, the entire workshop will be academically assisted by Prof. Dr. Harald Baier from Research Institute CODE.

Workshop 7 - Leadership and Command & Control with and through artificial intelligence - an exploratory workshop

Leadership and Command & Control have many perspectives, motivationally it usually begins with the "follow me", in which it is negotiated why subordinates should follow a leader. Then, through shapeshifting into "lets go", the now common problem will be solved in the form of the coordination of space, time forces and information (Command) systematically. In principle, it can be stated that the leadership philosophy of mission command developed in the wake of the Enlightenment and the Prussian reforms in the early 19th century, turns out to be still a "positive template" in future leadership. But additionally, in the future, AI will take on tasks in areas that were previously reserved for human decision-makers.

What will be the role of AI in strategy formulation, management, and human leadership?

Based on a serious game - the Prussian War Game - the WS participants should explore and describe the human-machine interface in leadership situations, different roles and from different perspectives, to work out how AI can affect critical and existential situations.

Military knowledge is not a prerequisite, only the interest to get involved in an immersive experience and to analyze and reflect on it.

Workshop structure

The WS is designed so that the participants should experience, analyze and reflect using AI on 3 different leadership situations (strategy formation, leadership as the coordination of space, time and forces and motivational leadership)

Military knowledge is not a prerequisite, only the interest to get involved in an immersive experience and to analyze and reflect on it.

Introduction to leadership in the AI age / Introduction to theory of Missioon Command / Prussian KS / "02.06.1866 - The day before Königgrätz"

• Phase 1: Strategy formulation - "Formulation of goals - means - ways so that my corporal (tomorrow an AI) before the tent understands the plan” (Napoleon Bonaparte)
• Phase 2: Management by directives – Order only what your subordinate (tomorrow an AI) cannot order himself (Moltke the Elder)
• Phase 3: Leadership in complex situations - "No plan (not even that of an AI?) survives contact with the battlefield (tomorrow an AI)" (Moltke the Elder)
• Summary

• Conclusion

Materials

• For detailed information on the workshop and the different syndicates, please open the following PDF.
• To download the workshop summary, please click >>here

 

Workshop 8 - OSINT and Hybrid Warfare

In times of a rapidly changing and interconnected world, hybrid and media warfare has become an increasingly common strategy to further political and territorial agendas, and subdue opponents without employing openly armed conflict. Due to a widespread use of traditional and social media in combination with an existing lack of media literacy in the general public, disinformation and “fake news” can dominate the media landscape within days – or even a few hours – and proceed to shape real-life events.

For government, military and law enforcement authorities, it has become an incontrovertible necessity to use open-source intelligence (OSINT) to (a) monitor disinformation in real-time, and, (b) detect the general sentiment and/or increasing polarities within the population, or specific societal groups. Ultimately, this should increase situational awareness in order to assess both current as well as future risks/threats.

As part of the workshop, the HENSOLDT Analytics team will provide (a) a general introduction to OSINT and Hybrid Warfare, (b) a  short touchbase presentation of current OSINT media monitoring techniques, and (c) an interactive workshop giving further  insights into the full operational picture and collection of requirements from the field by means of an open dialogue. This will resemble a compact and intensified version of our usual OSINT workshop.

Agenda

09.00 | General Introduction
09.15 | Introduction to OSINT and its meaning in context of the instrument of power information in hybrid warfare
10.00 | Operational requirements: current & developing capabilities in the information domain HENSOLDT Analytics
10.30-12.30 | Interactive workshop providing the full operational picture and needs from the digital battlefield

Speakers

• Mark Pfeiffer, Hensoldt Analytics (mark.pfeiffer@hensoldt-analytics.com)
• Anne-Lynn Dudenhöfer, Hensoldt Analytics (anne-lynn.dudenhoefer@hensoldt-analytics.com)

Workshop 9 -  Security and Sovereignty of Cloud Systems

Digital sovereignty describes the ability of a community to develop, to use, to operate, and to control digital products and services. This includes the ability to ensure the use of trusted technology (both hardware and software, taking into account the entire supply chain), secure connectivity, trusted operations of the infrastructure and continuous security monitoring. Considering cloud services, individual users apparently largely accept the predominance of non-European providers (e.g. Google, Amazon). However, the demand for national sovereignty has been recognised by national governments and European key industries especially in view of their own cloud applications, which has led to the GAIA-X initiative. Beyond that, cloud services continue to expand into the governmental (“Bundescloud”) and military sector, where the necessity to protect national interests becomes even more dominant. In this workshop we will discuss strategies and solutions to ensure security and sovereignty for cloud systems with focus on the governmental and military sector.

Agenda:

 

Workshop 10:  A Challenge for IT-Security - The Rise of Commercial and Freely Available Offensive Tools

Commercial and freely available attack framework tools that are abused for malicious purposes pose a great challenge for defenders. There has been a massive surge in the use and abuse of such tools, and this workshop will shed light on the available tool landscape and provide deep insights into how to detect them, using CobaltStrike as an illustrative example.
In particular, the workshop aims to

1. provide a strategic overview from a global landscape perspective and inform the audience about the massive threat posed by commercial / freely available attack frameworks; this includes the criminal actors adopting such tools over time
2. share practical experience from a defense perspective to plan and execute detection

3. walk through the audience in technical deep dive research session that will provide insights into CobaltStrike from a detection perspective

have a broad discussion about the practical impact, potential regulation, ethical aspects and possible countermeasures with the purpose to start a community driven common answer in order to limit the abuse of such commercial and freely available tools.

Agenda

• Workshop presentation "The Rise of Commercial and Freely Available Tooling - A Threat Landscape Overview", Daniel Schnok >>Video
• Workshop presentation and demonstration about "CobaltStrike - Detection & Classification Challenges",  Alexander Rausch and Konstantin Klinger >>Video