Digitalization is transforming society, massively enhancing productivity and reshaping how we live and work. However, security measures are often insufficient, and our increased dependence on digitalized infrastructures means that attacks can have severe consequences.

The Helmholtz Topic “Trustworthy Security Technologies for Digital Societies” (TruST) researches trustworthy security technologies that enable sovereign, resilient, and privacy-compliant digital infrastructures. Our research efforts are aimed at developing methods that result in concrete improvements in the security and privacy of critical infrastructures – including systems that are meant to act fully on their own – as well as methods for their comprehensive evaluation, enabling a scientifically sound assessment of cyber risk and the certification of real-world software products.

Through our research, we contribute to the solution of pressing societal challenges. We help to advance:

• the transformation of the energy and mobility systems, which is necessary for halting climate change,
• increased hard-/software sovereignty to address global power shifts and threats to democracy,
• and improved transparency and reliability to address the new offensive and defensive security challenges brought about by the ongoing AI revolution.  

The larger research hub of Topic “Trustworthy Security Technologies for Digital Societies”lives on as “KASTEL Security Research Labs”