DIEB

Project objective

Critical maritime infrastructure (CI) is increasingly becoming the focus of national and international threats. In addition to cyberattacks, physical threats (sabotage) from foreign fleets or unauthorized drone overflights (espionage) as well as targeted attacks on data cables, pipelines and offshore wind farms have increased significantly in the recent past. These developments not only endanger the operators of maritime CI, but also have a serious impact on the civilian population - in particular by impairing the security of supply and the safety and efficiency of shipping, which plays an essential role in the global economy.

In the DIEB project, NPorts and the Fraunhofer CML are pursuing the overarching goal of significantly increasing resilience and security of maritime critical infrastructures - exemplified by LNG terminals - in the face of growing threats from the areas of sabotage, espionage and cyberattacks. To this end, operators of maritime critical infrastructures are to be enabled to identify threats at an early stage, automatically and with data support, to assess their risk potential and to inform relevant public authorities in a timely and targeted manner so that effective countermeasures can be initiated.

Project subject

The focus is on the research, development and implementation of a modular, data-sovereign security situation picture as a demonstrator that flexibly integrates local and mobile sensor data and enables real-time threat assessment through AI-supported big data analyses. This is supplemented by a real-time decision support and alerting system that automatically and comprehensibly processes and forwards information to relevant decision-makers and authorities.

The project thus closes a key capability gap between CI operators and security authorities by enabling seamless, data-supported collaboration and information sharing in real time for the first time. The planned system architecture is designed to be modular and scalable so that it can be transferred to other maritime CI (e.g. offshore wind farms, submarine cables, pipelines) and to other threat domains.

Fraunhofer CML's tasks within the project

The Fraunhofer CML is responsible for the technical management of the project and is in charge of designing the system architecture. A particular focus is on the research work on the modules for threat identification and assessment. New methods of multisensory data integration are being developed and scientifically validated in realistic scenarios. The Fraunhofer CML thus makes a significant contribution to safety research by designing, implementing and scientifically evaluating new methods of automated pattern recognition, data fusion and risk assessment. In addition, the Fraunhofer CML is responsible for the technical evaluation and supports NPorts in the planning and implementation of field tests.

Project consortium

Project partners: NPorts (Niedersachsen Ports) and the Fraunhofer CML

Associated partners: UAV DACH (Europäischer Verband für unbemannte Luftfahrt), Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (WSV), Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH (DET), Landeskriminalamt Niedersachsen (LKA), Niedersächsische Landesbehörde für Straßenbau und Verkehr (Hafensicherheitsbehörde), Deutsche Marine