The Internet of Things is increasingly shaping our everyday lives. Companies, institutions and private individuals have to trust devices and technologies that are used in areas such as electricity, gas, water and heat supply, telecommunications, telemedicine and automated mobility. As the number of ubiquitous network-enabled smart objects, programmes and data is constantly increasing, reliability and IT security have become a significant challenge to society.

The PHYSEC innovative project, developed by Prof. Dr Christian Zenger, takes a new approach to cyber security: Anti-Tamper Radio (ATR). ATR uses radio waves and their propagation behaviour to detect tampering with electronic devices - from credit card data readers to charging stations and wall-mounted charging points to entire industrial plants. The system sends a special radio signal into the environment, which spreads out and is reflected by enclosure walls as well as computer components. The resulting signal is as characteristic of each system as a fingerprint. Even tiny changes to the system are enough to measurably influence the fingerprint. The system can be used to recognise the effects of cyber attacks and physical manipulation. Artificial intelligence ensures that legitimate changes, such as ageing or temperature changes caused by processors, are recognised as such and distinguished from manipulation attempts. This innovative technology allows critical infrastructures to be protected much more efficiently and effectively than with traditional security monitoring systems such as video cameras. It promises major cost savings. Since the development of an initial demonstrator in 2015, the ATR solution has since been developed into a scalable chip-based product. The third generation has been successfully integrated on a chip made by a Japanese semiconductor company. Millions are already being produced every year.