SecUrban
Secure information and communication systems for the Smart City
Kickoff of the “Secure Critical Infrastructure” Lecture Series in the 2026/2027 Winter Term
The 13th lecture series in the “Secure Critical Infrastructure” programme is taking place this winter semester. To kick things off, Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Reuter, a researcher at ATHENE, will introduce the lecture series and the topic of securing critical infrastructure on October 14.
The series will address various critical infrastructures and their security challenges. Speakers from research institutions, companies, government agencies and critical infrastructure operators have been invited to give specialised presentations on specific aspects of the topic. The 'Secure Critical Infrastructures' lecture series is organised by ATHENE researchers Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Hollick, Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Reuter and Prof. Dr. Jens Ivo Engels.
How Vulnerable Is Our Economy 25 Years After 9/11? Christian Reuter in live-Interview with tagesschau24
This morning, Prof. Christian Reuter spoke on the tagesschau24 programme Update Wirtschaft on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The interview addressed the vulnerability of the economy to infrastructure attacks, societal resilience, and research at TU Darmstadt within emergenCITY and ATHENE.
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Shaping Democracy – Strengthening Resilience: ATHENE researchers engage in dialogue with policymakers in the German Bundestag
Democratic processes are under pressure, and critical infrastructure and digital environments are becoming targets of attacks and manipulation. How can RMU’s expertise contribute to solutions—and be linked to political perspectives and needs?
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New ATHENE project: Greater security for embedded systems in practice and research
Since the start of the year, ATHENE has been running a new research project entitled ‘Advanced Reverse Engineering Techniques for Embedded and Wireless Systems’ – ARTEWS for short. Until the end of 2029, ATHENE researchers will be working to make the security of embedded systems systematically verifiable – and will be developing complementary tools for this purpose, which will be integrated into a practical toolbox by the end of the project. The target audience comprises small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as academic research groups. The toolbox is designed to help them carry out security analyses in a structured and independent manner.
read moreATHENE researchers have uncovered serious security vulnerabilities in children's smartwatches.
Smartwatches enable children to make calls and send text messages to their parents. Parents can also use the device to track their child's location. Designed for children aged 4–10, these smartwatches serve as an introduction to smartphones. ATHENE researchers from the Secure Mobile Networks (SEEMOO) department at TU Darmstadt, headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Hollick, have examined a children's smartwatch and found that even basic IT security mechanisms were not observed. Doctoral student Nils Rollshausen explains the details of the analysis in an interview.
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