Secure Data Research Department
Head of Department: Prof. Dr. Johannes Buchmann
“What procedures can be used to protect the security of digital data dynamically and in the long-term, against new attack techniques in a heterogeneous, dynamic and decentralised of ubiquitous computing?”
The challenge facing the Secure Data Research Department is to develop adequate encryption algorithms to keep the confidentiality, integrity, authenticity and non-repudiability of data and the associated intellectual property rights secure, despite the headlong growth in data volumes in a heterogeneous, dynamic and decentralised world in which computers are ubiquitous. These algorithms must ward off new types of threats arising from fundamentally new attack techniques, such as quantum computers and side-channel attacks. In addition, they must guarantee the security of digital data throughout their full life cycle: from generation, through transport, storage and archiving, to deletion.
The CASED “Secure Data” research department is conducting research, on the one hand into the fundamentals of data security, and on the other in two concrete fields of application: IT forensics and Information Rights Management (IRM). This includes defining security models, which take into account new attack techniques and analyse theoretically secure quantum encryption algorithms. The aim of the research is to provide innovative security solutions for these two application fields, as well as for other CASED projects and CASED applications.
IT forensics is concerned with methods of identifying attacks. This involves developing practical and secure methods of identifying attacks and attempted attacks using recorded data. New centralised and decentralised revision-secure analysis procedures are being developed. These procedures safeguard the integrity and confidentiality of the databases analysed and the privacy of the individuals affected. The legal requirements for use in court proceedings are also considered.
Information Rights Management enables control of the use and dissemination of digital data. The challenge is to provide this protection even when the data are released for use in foreign environments. This should not lead to data leakage or to the unauthorised distribution of the data. CASED is, therefore, developing solutions which meet the requirements for the protection of data, privacy, intellectual property and users and enable decentralised control of digital rights. Effective and collusion-resistant digital watermarks are being developed as an important tool for this purpose.
Contact
Coordinator
Secure Data Research Department
Dr. Melanie Volkamer
CASED
Mornewegstraße 32
64293 Darmstadt
Phone: +49 6151 16-5422
Fax: +49 6151 16-4825
volkamer
cased.de