Focus: Securing both traditional and emerging industrial operational technology systems.

IT security approaches are often not viable solutions for OT environments due to differing system characteristics. Existing standards for smart grid communication security, such as IEC 62351, do not sufficiently cover current developments, including quantum computing and fine-grained access control. Furthermore, many critical grid resources are outdated and utilize protocols that lack inherent security features. Thus, this research area addresses both modern and legacy security challenges and includes the following topics:

Topic 1.1 – Protocol Security: Characterizing attack surfaces within industrial protocols, including IEC 61850 and IEC 62351, and designing "bump-in-the-wire"-based security solutions that can be retrofitted and satisfy constraints of newly constructed as well as existing systems.

Topic 1.2 – Real-Time-Capable Access Control: Developing fine-grained server-aided attribute-based access control mechanisms for cyber-physical systems that consider both requester attributes and system state.

Topic 1.3 – Future-Proof Authentication & Encryption: Developing novel message authentication codes and digital signature protocols and schemes using quantum-resistant and traditional cryptography, as today's critical energy infrastructure heavily relies on mutually authenticated communication. Moreover, developing authenticated encryption approaches and demonstrating their viability for reliable and time-critical communication.