Chaire Cyber CNI

Chaire Cyber CNI – Cybersecurity for Critical Networked Infrastructures

Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructures at VivaTech 2026: From Research Innovation to European Cyber Resilience

This week at VivaTech 2026 in Paris, I had the pleasure of representing the German-French Academy for the Industry of the Future (GFA) as a member of its Steering Committee.

Hosted in the German Space under the leadership of Paul-Guilhem Meunier (Institut Mines-Télécom) and Axel Honsdorf (Bayerisch-Französisches Hochschulzentrum), we showcased how Franco-German collaboration can drive research, innovation, lifelong learning, and entrepreneurship.

Together with Mohammed Hamad and Michael Kühr, I presented research initiatives from IMT Atlantique and our partners, including:

🔹 TRUE-VIEW – making invisible digital interactions visible through Extended Reality to improve trust, explainability, and cyber resilience.

🔹 DTACK – creating Digital Twins of Cyberattacks for autonomous vehicles, connected mobility, and intelligent transportation systems.

🔹 CyberSecDome – a major European initiative bringing together Airbus, IMT Atlantique, and leading partners across Europe to strengthen the cybersecurity of critical infrastructures.

On the education side, I also presented:

🎓 Future-IoT, the flagship Franco-German doctoral school co-organized with Sebastian Steinhorst (Technical University of Munich), and

🎓 Cybersecurity Essentials: From Risk to Resilience, a MOOC developed within the GFA framework to strengthen cyber skills for SMEs and non-specialists.

The week enabled many inspiring exchanges with colleagues and friends from Institut Mines-Télécom, Technical University of Munich, DFH-UFA, Airbus, Fraunhofer, DFKI, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the German Cyber Agency, startups, and innovation actors from both countries.

We were also honoured by visits from François Delattre, Markus Blume, Jürgen Barke, Philippe Gréciano, Andrea von Hülsen-Esch, Virginie Jouhaud-Neutard, Laurence Le Coq, and Juliane Winkelmann.

A strong reminder that cybersecurity, digital sovereignty, innovation, education, and European cooperation are becoming inseparable pillars of our digital future.

#Cybersecurity #CyberResilience #CyberSecDome #CriticalInfrastructures #VivaTech #IMTAtlantique #Airbus #FutureIoT #DigitalTwins #ExtendedReality #DigitalSovereignty #EuropeanResearch #FrancoGermanCooperation

Wrapping Up an Inspiring Journey in the New Master Cybersecurity Program at IMT Atlantique

Today was the final session of my teaching engagement in the new Master Cybersecurity program at IMT Atlantique in Rennes — and what an inspiring experience it has been.

Over the past weeks, I had the pleasure of teaching a fantastic group of students in our course on *Securing Critical Infrastructures*. With 8 female and 2 male students, the class brought together strong technical backgrounds, curiosity, critical thinking, and excellent discussions throughout the course.

We explored topics such as:
🔹 OT vs IT security
🔹 Industrial Control Systems (ICS)
🔹 Attack chains and cyber resilience
🔹 Security-by-design
🔹 Monitoring and anomaly detection
🔹 Human-centered cybersecurity
🔹 QUANTUMINSERT, Snowden, and the ethics of cybersecurity

For today’s final recap session before Friday’s exam, we connected all course topics into one big picture: how modern connectivity creates both enormous opportunities and major attack surfaces for critical infrastructures.

I was also very happy to invite two colleagues working with me on current cybersecurity projects:

🔹 Axel Dupraz presented hands-on demonstrations around real-world critical infrastructure cybersecurity challenges and operational exercises.

🔹 Fabien Eyssartier, working with me on the Horizon Europe project CyberSecDome, demonstrated next-generation cybersecurity interfaces and immersive approaches for future SOC environments. This led to fascinating discussions on usability, operator support, situational awareness, and human-centered cybersecurity.

One thing became very clear once again:
Cybersecurity is not only about technology. It is also about humans, communication, decision-making, resilience, and responsibility.

A huge thank you to all students for the excellent atmosphere, the energy, and the many thoughtful discussions throughout the course. Teaching becomes truly rewarding when students actively contribute their own perspectives and experiences.

Now only the written exam on Friday remains.

Good luck to all of you — and thank you for this great experience!

#Cybersecurity #CriticalInfrastructure #ICS #OTSecurity #CyberResilience #SecurityByDesign #CyberDefense #CyberSecDome #HorizonEurope #IndustrialCybersecurity #HumanCenteredCybersecurity #IMTAtlantique #Rennes #Teaching #CyberEducation

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