Munich Airport launches cybercrime center

Germany’s Munich Airport has launched its Information Security Hub (ISH), a competency center where IT specialists, airport operating company FMG, and experts from the European aviation industry will work together to develop strategies for defending against cyberattacks.

The new competence center at Munich Airport has four training rooms and IT labs, a control room and an amphitheater for presentations and briefings. All of the facilities are equipped with computers, network hardware, cameras and projectors.

With this equipment, a group can carry out realistic attacks on IT systems for training purposes, for example, with a second group assigned to take defensive measures.

Thomas Weyer, the CFO and director of infrastructure at FMG, said, “As an airport operating company, we are responsible for the functionality of critical infrastructure and must take up the fight every day to ensure protection against cyberattacks.

“Attacks on IT systems around the world have taken on new dimensions in terms of quality and quantity in recent years. New viruses, worms and malware are constantly being developed and turned loose on potential vulnerabilities in our IT systems.

“The further we move ahead with digitization, and the more functions are performed and networked by computers, the more potential points of attack they will present to global cybercriminals – and the more serious the potential consequences of targeted attacks will become.”

The ISH will also offer enterprises, public authorities and other institutions the opportunity to train security experts for their organizations and conduct detailed testing of innovative technologies and processes.

In setting up and operating the ISH – which is housed in the former airmail control center at the airport, near the cargo terminal – FMG is working with IT security companies ERNW INSIGHT, HvS-Consulting and IT-CUBE SYSTEMS, with whom it has worked successfully for many years as developers and consultants for improved IT security.