History of the Institute

Toward the end of the 1950s, there was a desire in the Federal Republic of Germany to establish a research institution that would support science by harnessing the potential of new technology, inspired by the development of the first computers in the United States. To this end, the federal government established the German Computing Center (DRZ) in 1961—at a time when German universities did not yet have computers.

Computing was a service back then, just as it remained nearly 50 years later. At the DRZ, scientists from all disciplines had access to the computing power of an IBM mainframe. Whether in archaeology, business administration, biology, nuclear physics, or viticulture—the DRZ staff helped researchers solve their problems using software and wrote programs for the mainframe on punch cards on their behalf. Thus, in the 1960s, countless scientists from across Germany made the pilgrimage to Darmstadt to have complex calculations performed for which they themselves had neither the equipment nor the necessary technical knowledge. 

From the very beginning, the German Computing Center’s objectives also included conducting its own research to support and advance the technical development of mainframe computers.

The Origins of the Internet

After the ARPANET successfully connected computers, communication between machines also became a central focus of research at the DRZ in the early 1970s. Starting in 1973, the DRZ joined forces with other institutions in Germany conducting research in this field to form the Society for Mathematics and Data Processing (GMD). This allowed resources to be pooled and research groups to be networked.

This phase was particularly shaped by the institute’s director at the time, Prof. Dr. Eckart Raubold. Researchers at the newly established GMD Institute for Remote Data Processing were involved in developing protocols and standards for seamless data exchange across network layers, as well as in developing the first network-based applications. For example, the first node for X.400 email within Germany was developed and operated at the Institute for Remote Data Processing. During this period, various network protocols competed with one another until TCP/IP became the dominant standard in the 1980s. Even at that time, initial concerns regarding security and stability were already a factor.

Applied Research with Industry Partners

This activity intensified in the early 1980s, when the institute and its partners began to explore the applications of modern cryptography and its use in electronic transactions. The importance of these topics for the institute was initially limited but grew steadily; this is evident, for example, in the institute’s role in co-founding the TeleTrusT Association in the second half of the 1980s.

During the same period, the first major industry-funded projects emerged: Together with Siemens and Nixdorf, the institute worked on ISDN development; and, on behalf of the Deutsche Bundespost, on X.509 certificates. However, the focus of the institute’s activities at that time still lay in the area of network-based collaboration. Back then, this topic was still referred to as “telecooperation” and was set to become an important area of application for the Internet, which was on the verge of a major breakthrough.

Consequently, the institute was renamed the Institute for Telecooperation Technology in 1992. The director at that time was Prof. Dr. Heinz Thielmann, who significantly strengthened the institute’s industry focus. As one of the pioneers in smart card development, the institute, under his leadership, actively participated in the 1990s in the development of operating systems for resource-constrained devices, developed modules for security applications —such as the SECUDE software, which has been further developed and marketed since 1996 by the company of the same name, a spin-off of the institute—and integrated security technology into early Internet applications for public administration and e-government. 

With the advent of the Internet, IT security became increasingly important, leading the institute to rename itself the Institute for Secure Telecommunication in 1998. During this time, the CAST Forum was established in Darmstadt, a network that continues to successfully facilitate exchange between research and industry to this day.

Fraunhofer Focuses on Security

In 2001, GMD merged with the Fraunhofer Society. The institute in Darmstadt becomes a new Fraunhofer Institute, which in 2004 is renamed the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology, with Prof. Dr. Claudia Eckert as its sole director—the first woman to hold this position in the Fraunhofer world.

Under her leadership, IT security became firmly established at the Technical University of Darmstadt and was significantly advanced across all fields. Under her direction, Fraunhofer SIT focused entirely on IT security. Various research priorities and new research groups emerged, such as those dedicated to the study of secure mobile systems, and important collaborations—such as with the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)—were intensified. As part of the State of Hesse’s LOEWE program, she initiated the founding of the Center for Advanced Security Research Darmstadt (CASED), which took place in 2008. She also established the Fraunhofer SIT branch in Garching near Munich and accepted a position at the Technical University of Munich. The branch in Garching proved so successful that it quickly became an independent Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security (AISEC) in 2011.

Meanwhile, in October 2010, Fraunhofer SIT in Darmstadt welcomed a new, internationally experienced director in Prof. Dr. Michael Waidner. He is a highly renowned scientist with extensive industry experience, which he gained, among other things, as CTO of Security at IBM in New York. Previously, he had established and led one of the world’s most renowned groups in the field of IT security and cryptography at IBM Research in Zurich. Shortly after arriving in Darmstadt, he succeeded in securing funding from the Federal Ministry of Research to establish Germany’s largest center of excellence for IT security: the European Center for Security and Privacy by Design (EC SPRIDE), which began operations in October 2011. Under his leadership, CASED also received a very positive evaluation, leading to the renewal of funding for economic and scientific excellence by the State of Hesse.

Since late 2015, the IT security research centers previously funded by the federal government (EC SPRIDE) and the state of Hesse (CASED) have joined forces in the “Center for Research in Security and Privacy,” or CRISP for short. CRISP will be institutionalized in 2019 and given a new name: the National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity ATHENE. ATHENE is a research institution of the Fraunhofer Society, with participation from the Fraunhofer Institutes SIT and IGD, as well as the Technical University of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt) and Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. Through a unique collaborative model combining university and non-university research, ATHENE conducts cutting-edge research in all areas of cybersecurity. With the addition of Goethe University Frankfurt in 2022, ATHENE’s cybersecurity research will be further strengthened and expanded. Goethe University’s contribution focuses particularly on system and network security, the security of high-performance computing, as well as data protection and the legal aspects of cybersecurity.