Germany is investing 30 million euros in the development of innovative systems for cyber security.
Halle (Saale)/Stuttgart, 07.11.2022 – asvin GmbH, a specialist in secure software supply chains, and its “MANTRA” consortium have been awarded research contracts by the Agency for Innovation in Cyber Security (Cyberagentur). asvin is thus leading one of a total of six consortia selected for the initial phase of the research project, which has a total budget of 30 million euros. The aim of the project is to develop new systems for operational cybersecurity modeled on the “Cybertsecurity Mesh” in order to increase the resilience of public authorities and critical infrastructure.
Mirko Ross, founder and CEO of asvin GmbH, emphasizes the security policy significance of the initiative: “With MANTRA, we have an excellent opportunity to increase the sovereignty of the Federal Republic in the area of cyber security. Similar to the USA or Israel, Germany’s technological cybersecurity competence is now being significantly expanded. For this purpose, MANTRA creates a cybersecurity solution for critical infrastructures ‘made in Germany’, for Germany and Europe alike.”
The MANTRA consortium led by asvin has prevailed against 13 competitors with its AI- and DLT-based R&D approach. On November 7, 2022, the contracts were now signed in Halle (Saale) by Prof. Dr. Christian Hummert, research director, and Daniel Mayer, commercial director of the cyber agency. The subject of the research is “Existence-threatening risks from the cyber and information space and high security in safety-critical and defense-related scenarios”.
Automation of cyber defense is in the foreground and
MANTRA implements a secure and resilient framework for real-time exchange of cyber attack patterns and their risk management. The novel approach based on graph models offers significant advantages in cybersecurity management, especially in the automation and prioritization of protective measures, but also in risk mitigation and during active defense against cyber attacks. The MANTRA project partners have an extensive ecosystem of government agencies, associations, industrial companies, SMEs, research institutions and startups. In addition to asvin GmbH, these include Allianz, BDI, BSI, CAS AG, Volkswagen, Fraunhofer AISEC, OTH Regensburg, KIT, MIT and Fraunhofer IAO.
Reduction from six to three consortia in the next project phases
The first project phase of the largest cybersecurity research project in Germany to date is scheduled to last six months. Until the end of May 2023, the research alliances will further elaborate their project ideas submitted so far. “We were very pleased that so many companies and institutions were interested in our call for proposals,” emphasized Prof. Dr. Hummert, continuing, “The quality of the applications was exceptionally high. So the jury had excellent conditions to select the six research collaborations from the pool.” Daniel Mayer added: “The contract volume of 30 million euros ultimately places high expectations on the research alliances in the competition for the best results.” In the coming years, the research projects will compete among themselves with different approaches for the most innovative research idea. The number of participants will be gradually reduced in the course of the process. The evaluation of the proposals was carried out by an expert jury consisting of members of the cyber agency and representatives from the security sector as a whole.
About asvin: Stuttgart-based asvin GmbH currently has 20 employees and develops comprehensive solutions for AI and software supply chain security. These ensure the security and correct origin of software in IoT environments throughout its entire lifecycle. This creates a continuous layer of trust along data supply chains, which significantly increases resilience in the Internet of Things (IoT) against cyber attacks.
