Frankfurt, October 6, 2022. Link11, a specialized European IT security provider in the field of cyber-resilience, has been awarded a contract with Fraport AG to protect its IT infrastructure with Link11 DDoS protection. Fraport AG is a German company that operates Frankfurt Airport, one of the central air traffic hubs in Europe. Thanks to the cloud-based DDoS protection solution, the network of the globally active aviation service provider, Fraport AG, is reliably protected against cyber-attacks. In addition, being an operator of a critical infrastructure (KRITIS), Link11 will ensure the implementation of standardized security level of the network and information systems is state of the art.
The implementation of the fully automated 24/7 protection against DDoS attacks has already been completed. The DDoS protection solution permanently connects the airport operator’s network infrastructure to the Link11 filter center. Internet traffic is continuously routed through Link11 so that malicious traffic will be removed, allowing only legitimate traffic to access the networks of Fraport AG. Thanks to the advanced technologies such as machine learning and full automation, this filtering of IP traffic takes place in real-time and prevents human error in detecting and defending against attacks. Even unknown attack patterns are defended against in a fraction of a second thanks to patented anomaly detection.
In contrast, a DDoS protection solution from a carrier usually requires manual detection and reactive traffic routing. Carrier-based models usually meet standard requirements with protection mechanisms that typically operate at layers 3 and 4. Moreover, because they are often backed by minimalist SLAs, they do not provide guaranteed protection bandwidth or a contractually guaranteed time-to-mitigate (TTM) for all attack types. In case of doubt, valuable time is lost, and the risk of a business interruption increases significantly.
Marc Wilczek, Managing Director of Link11 states “We are very pleased that we have expanded our customer portfolio in the area of KRITIS with Fraport AG. Further increases in the number of attacks require critical infrastructure providers to intensively address the issue of cyber dangers and the corresponding protection mechanisms. After all, the effects of cyber-attacks have a substantial impact on society. On-premises solutions too often rely on manual assessment of incidents and static, pattern-based assessment of data. This time- and resource-intensive approach is ineffective and vulnerable as IT security grows in complexity.”
The fully automated 24/7 protection eliminates the need for manual work, allowing Fraport’s IT team to focus on more extensive IT security efforts. Fritz Oswald, Senior Vice President IT Infrastructure at Fraport AG explains, “As an airport operator, the safe and pleasant journey of our passengers is always our priority, which is why we continuously review our IT security measures.” One of the benefits of Link11’s cloud-based protection is that data traffic can be filtered, analyzed and even blocked in real-time before it even gets close to Fraport AG’s network infrastructure. “We are pleased that we have been able to raise the level of security to another level with Link11’s new DDoS solution,” added Fritz Oswald of Fraport AG.
About Fraport AG and Frankfurt Airport
Fraport AG is one of the leading international companies in the airport business and operates at 29 airports on four continents. In 2019, the Group generated annual earnings of around €454 million on €3.7 billion in revenue. In 2019, a total of more than 182 million passengers used the airports with a Fraport share of at least 50 percent. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the corresponding figure for 2021 was only 86 million passengers. In the past fiscal year, revenue amounted to €2.1 billion and the profit for the year was €92 million.
Frankfurt Airport is one of the leading airports in Europe and a major international air traffic hub. In 2019, Fraport welcomed more than 70.5 million passengers at Frankfurt Airport and handled a cargo volume of around 2.1 million metric tons. In 2021, only 24.8 million passengers were transported due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The cargo volume was 2.3 million tons. This puts Frankfurt Airport in first place in the ranking of European airports in the cargo sector.
(Photo: Fraport AG)
