CYREN ZH: Cyber Resilience Network For The Canton Of Zurich
Researchers Involved
research areas
timeframe
2022 - 2027
contact
melanie.knieps@dsi.uzh.ch
The rapidly increasing digitalization of critical infrastructures brings with it greater vulnerability to cyber threats. This reality calls for a network that can bring together and coordinate every helping hand to restore operations as soon as possible.
How can we better protect ourselves from cyber threats? To answer this complex question, it is necessary to find the right balance between technical possibilities and political, social, and economic interests. The rapidly increasing digitalization of critical infrastructures brings with it greater vulnerability to cyber threats. In such a situation, every helping hand is needed to restore operations. But how do you organize helpers in such an emergency situation? The new Cyber Resilience Network for the Canton of Zurich (CYRENZH) aims to protect the self-determination of Zurich through research and teaching as well as the establishment of a militia consisting of volunteers.
Aim
The aim of CYRENZH is to protect the self-determination of Zurich as a business location and its population through research and teaching as well as the establishment of a militia consisting of volunteers. Similar to the fire brigade, the funded project aims to build up a task force of civilian first responders for the digital space. CYRENZH is also intended to strengthen cooperation between the various actors in the canton of Zurich and create new training and further education opportunities in the field of cyber security.
Approach
CYRENZH focuses in particular on non-technical aspects of cybersecurity. A lively exchange of knowledge between representatives from science, business, and cantonal authorities – as well as civil society – will be essential in developing and implementing this two-stage project. In the first half of the project (2022-2025), the legal basis and the scope of the activity will be defined, while the concrete implementation will take place in the second half (2025-2027). The scope of our project is both to prevent and better respond to emerging cyber incidents.
Relevance
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) already helps the population and organizations with selective support. The military supports them – but only in exceptional emergencies. A central question is therefore how the legal framework for the deployment of digital first responders should be designed, how cooperation with municipalities, the canton, and the federal government must be organized, and how existing structures in cyber security can be adopted and expanded. CYRENZH will thus make an essential contribution to the “Cantonal Cyber Security Strategy“, which the Zurich cantonal government adopted in May 2022.