Cybersecurity center founded at TU Wien

On June 12, 2023 the rectorate of TU Wien unanimously took the decision to found and finance the Cybersecurity Center, which brings together scientists from different faculties to foster collaboration in the interdisciplinary field of cybersecurity.

2023-06-12

Cybersecurity encompasses security, privacy, safety, accountability, trust, fairness and other civil rights, which are cornerstones of the digital society. The societal and industrial relevance of cybersecurity is witnessed among others by

  • the new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which mandates the principle of security and privacy by design, i.e., the state-of-the-art in security and privacy is to be integrated since the early design phase in digital technologies;
  • the societal, political, and economical impact of hacks and cyberattacks in times of peace and war;
  • the demand for solutions to protect critical infrastructures and cyber-physical systems, which is amplified due to global conflicts, energy crisis and climate challenges
  • the growing role of cryptocurrencies in the international economy;
  • the importance of fairness and robustness in AI-driven systems
  • the lack of experts in the field

Cybersecurity is an inherently interdisciplinary field, which cross-cuts all disciplines in computer science and additionally spans over other fields, such as electrical engineering (networks, hardware, robots), physics (quantum computing and cryptography), and mathematics (statistics and data science), and law.

TU Wien has a strong expertise in this domain, as witnessed by the number of prestigious grants (e.g, 6 ERC grants and 2 WWTF research group for young investigators), large scale projects (e.g., 3 Christian doppler labs and 1 FWF Special Research Program), as well as dedicated bachelor, master, and doctoral programs.

The goal of the TU Wien Cybersecurity Center is to consolidate and expand the interfaculty expertise and initiatives in place, establishing TU Wien as an internationally leading center of excellence for research, teaching, and societal outreach in cybersecurity.