After six weeks of experiencing research first-hand during the summer, Marlon Marx was not quite finished yet: The student from Lüttfeld Vocational College returned to inIT for another two weeks and picked up right where he had left off during his first research internship. Once again, he worked on the Genesis demonstrator in Prof. Dr. Henning Trsek’s research group, “Interconnected Automation Systems” – this time with a new focus: network security.
Understanding network attacks and testing protective measures
During his first stay, Marlon had already worked intensively with the demonstrator and helped expand its technical capabilities. On his return, he continued exactly where he had left off. This time, he was supervised by Alexander Toppka, research associate in the research group.
The main focus was on how the demonstrator could also be used for practical exercises in network security in the future. This included simulating different network and attack scenarios, making their effects understandable and testing suitable protective measures.
A demonstrator with many possible applications
The Genesis demonstrator is therefore increasingly becoming a versatile platform for research and teaching. Thanks to its modular design, it is not only suitable for illustrating the basic principles of modern automation systems. In the future, it can also be used, for example, for practical exercises in network security.
Students can use the system to see directly how components communicate with one another, where potential vulnerabilities can arise and how systems can be protected against attacks. In this way, the demonstrator combines technical fundamentals with practical applications and can be flexibly adapted to different questions and scenarios.
Maybe we’ll be seeing him more often at inIT?
There is a reason Marlon returned to inIT after his first internship: He enjoyed the research environment and the insights into the institute’s different topics. So much so that he can imagine combining his studies with practical work in the future.
Will we therefore be seeing him more often at inIT soon? We’ll keep you posted!
Author: Mona Marie Brinkmann