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The magazine of ETH Zurich and ETH Alumni No. 3, September 2012

Focus IT security Safely into the net-

worked world Page 18

Dances with robots Page 14 A woman for new materials Page 38 Dual effort for geothermics Page 40 Open Systems gehört mit seinen Mission Control Security Services im Bereich IT-Sicher- heit zu den europaweit anerkannten Anbietern. Wir arbeiten von Zürich und Sydney aus in einem dynamischen Umfeld in über 175 Ländern. Bei uns kannst Du Dein Wissen in einem jungen Team in die Praxis umsetzen und rasch Verantwortung übernehmen. Infos über Einstiegs- und Karrieremöglichkeiten sowie Videos findest Du auf unserer Website. www.open.ch Editorial

Dear readers

Accessing information everywhere and at any time: the in- In its teaching, the Department of Computer Science of- ternet and mobile devices like smartphones and tablet fers one of the most comprehensive programmes in the computers have radically changed our daily lives. Every world with the Master Track in Information Security. The day we answer dozens, if not hundreds, of emails – and programme comprises fifteen modules on security for often quickly in the evening, too. We work with colleagues computer systems, networks and applications. The degree on the other side of the globe almost as if they were right is conducted in close collaboration with the ZISC and the next to us in the office. Experts can access critical informa- lecturers include both leading international researchers tion around the clock – be it patient data or business or from ETH Zurich and experts from industry. construction plans. Engineers control plants and power stations by computer. Our increasingly interconnected In light of the increasing importance of security issues, world offers undreamt-of possibilities and makes our lives ETH Zurich is expanding its competencies in this field. In simpler, faster and more comfortable. With one mouse- appointing Adrian Perrig from Cylab at Carnegie Mellon click or a simple touch, we can bring the knowledge of the University, Pittsburgh, USA, we have gained one of the world into our homes. However, this is not without its world’s leading scientists for system security. With his risks. The number of internet crimes has spiralled and it is work on redesigning central internet components he will becoming increasingly difficult for individuals to retain join professors David Basin and Srdjan Capkun at the re- control over their data. This issue focuses on the dark side cently founded Institute of Information Security. of our networked world – and on combating it. The new technical possibilities have not by-passed Globe, Guaranteeing IT security is a challenge for the economy either: now you can access our magazine anywhere and and society in equal measure – and thus also a challenge for anytime. The Globe iPad app is already available for researchers. With concrete issues derived from practical download in German and English from the iTunes store, experience at the heart of what they do, scientists from with additional picture galleries and films on individual ETH Zurich are working under high pressure with partners articles. As of next year, there will also be a version for from industry at the Zurich Information and Privacy Center Android devices. And so I wish you happy reading – be it (ZISC) to make information systems more secure. The ZISC on paper or your tablet. makes current research results accessible to IT experts via regular workshops. Ralph Eichler President of ETH Zurich Open Systems gehört mit seinen Mission Control Security Services im Bereich IT-Sicher- heit zu den europaweit anerkannten Anbietern. Wir arbeiten von Zürich und Sydney aus in einem dynamischen Umfeld in über 175 Ländern. Bei uns kannst Du Dein Wissen in einem jungen Team in die Praxis umsetzen und rasch Verantwortung übernehmen. Infos über Einstiegs- und Karrieremöglichkeiten sowie Videos findest Du auf unserer Website. www.open.ch 3 No 3, September 2012

Contents

6 Flashlight Cold atoms simulate graphene­

9 Focus IT security Ticker News from ETH Zurich 18 Safely into the networked world 14 Report Dances with robots 20 32 Crime scene cyber- Legal uncertainty in space the global village The number of crimes on the net The latest films, hits or audio has skyrocketed in recent years. books: with a few clicks, they And the culprits are becoming­ can be copied from the internet increasingly shrewd. Their at­ and used unrestrictedly. How­ tacks are not only aimed at pri­ ever, the interests of the artists vate individuals; the state and get left by the wayside. How businesses are also increasingly can copyright be guaranteed in being targeted. the cyber world?

When over 100 secondary school From the world of students from all over Switzerland ­research roam ETH Zurich hungry for know­ ledge, you know it’s study week – 26 23 Gaps in the standard a one-off opportunity for pupils to Our tracks on the net get to know the university and 28 Constructed security ­realise their first ETH Zurich pro­ Federal Data Protection and In­ 31 Deleting data without formation Commissioner Hans­ ject. This year, twenty of them a trace hobnobbed with robots. peter Thür, ETH Zurich profes­ sor Bernhard Plattner and Marcel 33 No hidden payments Zumbühl, head of security at Swisscom Schweiz, discuss whether and how we can pro­ Glossary tect ourselves against data abuse. 37 Viruses, worms, Trojans and Co.

4 Globe is also available in German and English in a free iPad version

Imprint Globe is the magazine of ETH Zurich and the official organ of the ETH Alumni 38 46 Association. Publisher: Zoom Profile ETH Alumni Association/ETH Zurich Editorial team: Sought: materials that don’t Between drones and ETH Zurich, Corporate Communications: Roland Baumann (head), Christine Heide­ even exist yet D flat mann, Martina Märki, Felix Würsten Collaboration: Andrea Lingk (picture editing), Alice Werner Advertisements: Administration: ETH Alumni Communications, [email protected], +41 44 632 51 24 Management: print-ad kretz gmbh, 8708 Männedorf, [email protected], +41 44 924 20 70 Design: TBS Identity, Zurich Translation: Benchmark Ict, Berlin; Syntax, Zurich Printing: Neidhart + Schön AG, Zurich Circulation: Printed version, in German: 24,000; Nicola Spaldin and her team are Alumnus Christoph Eck is passion­ issued four times a year. working on new materials by ate about flying: he scales dizzy Subscription: combining properties that do not heights both in his music with the Globe is available in a printed version in German by subscription for CHF 40 a naturally go together. ETH Big Band and in his career year (four issues). Full membership of the ETH Alumni Association includes an with helicopter drones. annual Globe subscription. Send orders and changes of address to [email protected] or, for ETH Zurich alumni, go directly to www.alumni.ethz.ch/myalumni. Further information / contact: www.ethz.ch/globe, [email protected], 40 50 +41 44 632 42 52 ISSN 2235-7289 Inside Anno Globe is also available in German and English in a free iPad version. Dual use for deep geothermics One big family

Bigger boost thanks to private ETH Zurich’s first crèche turns Picture credits: donations forty. What began as a demo­ Cover: Aurel Märki; cratic, grassroots parents’ asso­ Editorial: Giulia Marthaler; Contents p. 4: (bottom left) Josef Kuster, (top ciation has blossomed into a right) Aurel Märki; p. 5: (left) Tom Ka­ professionally run business. wara, (right) Tom Kawara; Flashlight: Thomas Uehlinger/ETH; Ticker p. 9: (left) Cern, (right) Beat Gerber; p.10: (left) Tom Kawara, (right) NASA; p.12: (left) jacQuie.k/ 44 Flickr.com, (right) istockphoto; Report p.14: Guilia Marthaler; p.16: Josef Connected Kuster; S.17: Giulia Marthaler; Focus p. 18/19: Aurel Märki; p. 20: Aurel Scientifica 2012 52 Märki; p. 23: Aurel Märki; p. 24: Center for Security Studies/ETH; p. 27: Tom Kawara; p. 28: Aurel Märki; p. 31: Aurel Thanksgiving with donors Alumni life Märki; p. 33: Aurel Märki; p. 34 Aurel Märki; Zoom p. 38: Tom Kawara; In- Inauguration CSCS Alumni groups: young side p. 40: Geopower Basel AG; p. 42: Tom Kawara; Connected p. 44: (top) Talking water with Peter Brabeck and dynamic Frank Brüderli, (bottom) Tom Kawara; p. 45: (top) CSCS, (bottom) Christian Agenda Lanz; Profile p. 47: Tom Kawara; Anno p.50: Tom Kawara; p. 51: (top) KIRI/ ETH, (bottom) ETH­Bibliothek, Bild­ archiv Alumni life p. 52: Howard Brundrett; p. 54: KCAP Architects&Planners

5 No 3, September 2012

Flashlight

6 Cold atoms simulate graphene

What looks more like the fantasy world of an abstract surrealist is actu- ally rigorous science: researchers from ETH Zurich are simulating the electronic properties of graphene. Only discovered in 2004, graphene is especially interesting – such as for new computer chips – on account of its good conductivity of electricity and heat. Tilman Esslinger and his colleagues from the Institute of Quantum Elec- tronics can now demonstrate how these properties materialise. To do so, they produce a honeycomb structure with laser beams that resembles the crystal lattice of graphene. By captur- ing ultra-cold potassium atoms in this lattice they can simulate the elec- tronic properties of graphene in the model, for the potassium atoms be- have in the laser lattice in a similar fashion to electrons in graphene. The behaviour of the electrons near the so-called Dirac points (charge-neutral points) is also crucial to graphene’s special properties. In their experimental design, the re- searchers were able to move these Dirac points. The series of images shows two Dirac points fusing to- gether as they shift before ultimately disappearing. The bottom series de- picts the impulse distribution of the atoms in the laser lattice, while the top series shows the related band structure with the Dirac points.

7 Wer heute Raum und Zeit revolutionieren möchte, startet seine Karriere bei Sensirion.

Und wird Teil der Sensirion-Story: Sensirion ist das weltweit führende auf einem winzigen Siliziumchip. Damit verschieben wir die Grenzen des und mehrfach preisgekrönte Hightech-Unternehmen auf dem Gebiet der Messbaren ins schier Unermessliche. Schreiben Sie Ihre eigenen Kapitel Feuchtesensoren und Durchflusssensoren – mit Niederlassungen in Über- der Sensirion-Erfolgsgeschichte und übernehmen Sie Verantwortung in see und im Fernen Osten. Dank unserer einzigartigen CMOSens® Techno- internationalen Projekten. Stimmen Sie sich auf www.sensirion.com/jobs auf logie vereinen wir das Sensorelement mit der digitalen Auswerteelektronik eine vielversprechende Zukunft ein.

SENS_174x116_Globe_Anz_Einst_Boy_Sep.indd 1 25.07.12 13:50

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facebook.com/IhrAutohaus.ch Ticker

Smoke All-clear for surgeons During surgical interventions, such as in the abdomen, smoke containing various toxins can develop. For the first time, researchers headed by physics professor Markus Sigrist have now investigated these substances qualitatively and quantitatively under real conditions in the operating thea- tre and analysed them chemically with laser methods. The result of the Image­of­a­proton-proton­collision­recorded­with­the­CMS­detector,­providing­indirect­evidence­of­ study should reassure both surgeons the­existence­of­a­new­Boson. and patients alike: the measurements of thirty-three samples from six dif- New particle The researchers are currently work- ferent operations did not show any ing on garnering more data about the evidence of excessive concentrations Perhaps the Higgs particle and describing its properties. of gaseous pollutants. boson The search for the Higgs boson and other potentially new particles is one In July, a consortium of researchers at of the largest scientific experiments in Cern discovered a new particle and the world – and researchers from ETH made scientific history. Zurich are also heavily involved. A In all probability, the particle is a team of scientists from the Institute of boson; possibly even the Higgs boson, Particle Physics headed by professors the last missing particle in the stand- Felicitas Pauss, Günther Dissertori, ard model of particle physics. It is still Christoph Grab and Rainer Wallny Award-winners not entirely clear whether the new played a major role in building one of particle with a mass of 125 GeV is ac- the two particle detectors and analys- Favelas as tually the elusive Higgs boson. ing the data. research objects Urban planners and architects from ETH Zurich are developing building Diarrhoeal disease secretes. The major advantage: the types and technologies for Brazilian new approach does not require any slums that enable sustainable housing Poison targeted in- antibiotics. The patent is pending. development. They are conducting Clostridium difficile, which causes di- the project in conjunction with the stead of bacteria arrhoea and sometimes serious intes- local population and authorities – es- Researchers from the Institute of tinal inflammation, often appears af- pecially with the 2014 World Cup Pharmaceutical Sciences have devel- ter antibiotic treatments and mostly and the 2016 Olympics in mind. To- oped a new agent to combat the dan- in hospitals, but it is also beginning to gether with their team, Hubert gerous intestinal bacteria Clostridium spread outside. Its robust spores sur- Klumpner and Alfredo Brillenbourg, difficile. vive conventional disinfectants. In professors at the Institute of Urban In contrast to traditional therapies, the USA, around half a million people Development, have received the sil- the treatment does not target the bac- are taken ill with it each year and as ver Global Holcim Award for their terium itself, but rather the poison it many as 20,000 die. community centre design.

9 No­3,­September­2012

Ticker

President of ETH Zurich Ralph Eichler and Peter­Kamm,­CEO­and­President­of­the­ ­Administrative­Board­of­Philips­Schweiz.­ The­bacterium­GFA­J-1­was­discovered­in­the­mud­of­Mono­Lake­in­California,­which­contains­ extremely high levels of salt and arsenic. Medical engineering Life in outer space not grow with the aid of biomolecules Philips partner- that contain arsenic, nor uses them as ship Extra-terrestrial a cell component. Moreover, the mi- life remains ter- crobes can evidently absorb traces of The longstanding partnership between phosphate from the environment ex- Philips and ETH Zurich has entered a restrial tremely efficiently. This enables them new phase. The healthcare company to have enough phosphate at the is promoting medical engineering at A team of researchers at ETH Zurich ready – despite the high arsenic con- ETH Zurich with a donation of CHF has proven that the “arsenic bacte- centrations – to synthesise the most 10 million to the ETH Zurich Founda- rium” GFAJ-1, hailed as a spectacular important building blocks for life. tion. It is intended to boost collabora- new life form by NASA in 2010, can- Finally, the scientists examined the tion in the fields of medical imaging not do without phosphorus after all. A NASA data again and found that traces procedures and imaging-based model- central dogma of biology thus remains of phosphate were also present in the ling and simulation. The two partners intact – namely that all organic life on nutrient medium during the original are thus making a key contribution Earth is built from six basic building isolation of the bacteria. Evidently, towards better diagnostics and treat- blocks, one of which is phosphorus. these were underestimated by the ment of cardiovascular diseases, psy- With the aid of high-resolution mass NASA researchers. chiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s spectrometry and a newly developed, or schizophrenia, and orthopaedic ill- computer-based analysis, the re- nesses. The funding from Philips will searchers looked specifically for arse- be channelled into research projects, nic compounds inside the cells of the Around 130,000 promoting talent and establishing bacteria. Sure enough, they found … assessments are conducted by new research groups or additional some arsenical sugar molecules. How- lecturers at ETH Zurich every year professorships in the field of health ever, contrary to the assumptions of to gauge their students’ progress. research. Moreover, the money can the NASA scientists, the arsenic sugar Computers are increasingly being also be used for new research equip- is not actively formed by the bacte- used in written exams, which ment, especially at the Institute of Bi- rium itself, but spontaneously. greatly simplifies the process and omedical Engineering (IBT) of ETH Furthermore, the ETH Zurich team marking. Zurich and the University of Zurich. was able to prove that GFAJ-1 does

10 Für die zuverlässige Absicherung Ihrer Liebsten setzen wir mit unserer Beratung bei der Wurzel an.

Besuchen Sie uns auf www.zkb.ch/finanzberatung

Denn genau dort finden wir die Ansätze, die für eine nachhal- tige Absicherung Ihrer Liebsten nötig sind. Um die beständige Pflege Ihrer Anlagen kümmern wir uns dann gemeinsam – damit Ihre Zukunft auch finanziell aufblühen kann. Fragen Sie nach unserer ganzheitlichen Finanzberatung.

Finanzberatung_210x280_d_TP.indd 1 02.02.12 10:49 No­3,­September­2012

Ticker

Astrophysics Hönggerberg campus Dark galaxies Underground heat observed store awarded Dark galaxies are small, gas-rich galax- ETH Zurich is building a dynamic un- ies that hardly contain any stars and derground heat store on the Höngger- are thus basically invisible. They are berg campus with a goal of making it

thought to be the original building largely CO2-free by 2025. ETH Zurich blocks of today’s bright, shining galax- received the International Sustainable ies. A team involving ETH Zurich has Campus Network (ISCN) award in the succeeded in observing dark galaxies “Excellence in Building” category for directly for the first time. Previously, this pioneering feat. The ISCN brings science was unable to prove that these together more than thirty universities mysterious galaxies actually exist. from all over the world. The combination of genetic data and protein measurements in patient samples speeds up the detection of cancer biomarkers.

Cancer research Biomarkers evaluated Protein biomarkers that can be ob- tained in blood plasma or urine with- out major interventions are very use- ful for the early diagnosis of cancer. Using a new procedure, potential bio- markers can be measured quickly and on a large scale and their clinical use- fulness verified. This method is based on mass spectrometry and could shorten the path from the lab to usage in practice. Kuparuk­oil­field­in­Prudoe­Bay,­northern­Alaska. Protein research and genetic re- search have found over a thousand Arctic sia stands to profit the most from the potential protein biomarkers in recent new realities in the Arctic, as an analy- years. However, it is still unclear Beneficiaries of sis conducted by ETH Zurich’s Center whether many of them are actually climate change for Security Studies (CSS) reveals. Sev- clinically relevant, since no efficient enty percent of Arctic natural gas de- verification procedure exists. Research- The rush for the Arctic’s natural re- posits are thought to be in Russian ers from ETH Zurich have developed sources has begun. As the ice melts at territory. mass spectrometric coordinates for an increasingly rapid rate, large oil The melting of the ice will also 1,157 potential biomarkers in their and gas fields are becoming accessible open up trade routes that have been study, storing them in a publicly ac- for the first time. Several countries difficult to access until now, such as cessible database. These coordinates bordering on the Arctic are concur- the North East Passage. Whether this can help to detect the biomarkers in rently showing an increasing readi- is an international waterway or Rus- patient samples. A case study on ovar- ness to mine new fossil resources, sian territory is already the subject of ian cancer has confirmed the right- even under difficult conditions. Rus- geopolitical debate. ness of their approach.

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ETH_Magazine_Graduate_Bubbles_Sunset_EN_GBR_100812.indd 1 08.08.12 17:11 No­3,­September­2012

Report

NAO robots with their programmers: Secondary school students proudly show off their project work in ETH Zurich’s main hall.

14 ETH Zurich study weeks Dances with robots

Alice Werner swings his hips. The timing is off. The robot is still not Over 100 secondary school students from all over displaying much sense of rhythm, but the excitement Switzerland visited ETH Zurich at the beginning of mounts. Six boys dance around their staggering “rapbot” June to get an inside view of the university. Full with glee. of expectation and ready for action, they spent a week in various departments and realised their Curiosity for the world of science first project for ETH Zurich. We joined the partici- The six belong to a group of nineteen boys and one girl pants at the Department of Information Technol- who for a week are gaining in-depth insights into the De- ogy and Electrical Engineering as they worked on partment of Information Technology and Electrical Engi- the NAO robot. neering (D-ITET). The letters of motivation they submitted told of their determination and of their great curiosity It is shortly after eight o’clock, one morning in June. Bravin about the world of science. Now they want to experience holds the robot around the waist then gingerly lets go. what a university like ETH Zurich can offer them. Since “Okay, start.” His teammates stop him with a wave of the 2003 five departments at ETH Zurich have been taking it in hand. Just a moment; something is wrong with the pro- turns to host a study week in the summer, at the end of the gramming code. Has the connection between the robot school year. This year, the participants tackled issues from and the computer been interrupted? Marc, who is frown- the fields of architecture, information technology and elec- ing at the monitor, scrolls down the list of commands. Be- trical engineering, materials science, mathematics and hind him, five pairs of eyes scour the graphic user interface physics. This opportunity to find out about ETH Zurich’s for errors. The pupils are annoyed that they have been activities and about specific degree courses is highly cov- unable to locate the problem straightaway. After all, the eted: out of the 150 applications this year, only 112 could programming language used is “far too easy” for them, re- be accommodated. ally. Really. As a precaution, the project leader tilts the Of the budding students who made it to the D-ITET, the window open; a spot of fresh air can’t hurt. Outside, the eldest will be 20 this year and the youngest have just sun is rising above the roofs of Zurich. Undeterred, Marc turned 16. Aurelio is here; he will be doing his Matura taps around on the keyboard and grins like a Cheshire cat. (school leaving exams) in a few weeks’ time but did not The problem seems to have been solved and the first at- want to pass up the chance to meet some “mad scientists” tempt can proceed. Bravin raises his eyebrows. and lots of nice people too. Then there is Fabian from the The robot twitches. So does Nirushan. He is playing the Canton of Bern; he has got a soft spot for electrical engi- robot’s rap partner and cranks the Indian song up to full neering and wants to see whether ETH Zurich is the right volume: “Hey Robo, let’s dance!” Robo flexes his knees, university for him. Pascal travelled up from Aargau for the teeters, bends his torso and almost topples over when he study week because he fancies “working on a project with

15 No­3,­September­2012

Report

Full of beans, the school children have taught the NAO robots to talk, dance and do sports. Their enthusiasm for the robots spilled over into the­audience­at­their­final­presentation.­

like-minded young people.” And Ramona is here; the only Experimenting and working creatively girl. “I don’t mind. I’m used to it”, she says confidently and Over the next few days, Ramona’s team focuses on motor shrugs. “I just find information technology exciting, that’s control. With its 21 joints, the NAO can perform complex all.” They all have experience in programming languages, movement sequences and choreographies. The work an interest in technology, and a fascination with robots. group’s goal is to program the robot so that he can com- plete a course faultlessly, avoid obstacles and pass balls ac- Heavier than a giant baby: the NAO robot curately. It is going well, even if they do have to “tinker The department has had the slogan “Electrical engineering about” for a while: their robot keeps losing its balance. is everywhere” printed on white T-shirts – a uniform look Then, there is the small matter of voice recognition. The to foster a sense of togetherness. On Monday, the first day robot does not always respond to commands. And some- of the study week, friendships are already blossoming. Un- times its inappropriate answers are met with hoots of der the expert supervision of Khoa Nguyen, the project laughter. leader for the study week at the D-ITET and a doctoral This autonomous, creative style of working goes down a student at the Automatic Control Laboratory, the pupils treat with all four teams and the pupils have revelled in the learn about the multi-functionality of the humanoid NAO level of trust placed in them. Some, however, would love robot in the course of the week. to go into the material in even more depth: “Schematic 57 centimetres tall, 12 kilos heavy. As the first robot programming with predefined blocks is not all that diffi- does the rounds, passed from one person to the next like cult”, says Ramona, speaking on behalf of her peers. “The a giant baby, there is a lot of giggling. Then, the questions source codes would be interesting – the algorithms behind come in thick and fast: how many cameras has the NAO the blocks.” Khoa Nguyen can see what the pupils mean. been fitted with? Can he move his feet sideways? How dif- “Of course they want to find out exactly how a robot is ficult is it for him to recognise his own position in the programmed on all levels. Anyone who is interested in room? Enthusiastic, inquisitive faces. The project manager, electronic engineering and information science doesn’t who is noticeably enjoying the whole experience, is put just want to be a user later on, but also wants to develop through his paces: “Now think about what you want to the programming further. But in such a short space of time teach the robot.” Question and answer session over. The it is just not possible to deal with more complex systems pupils organise themselves into four teams, according to and still see a project through to the end.” their respective interests. At the end of the week they have Besides, the study programme includes more: visits to to present their results for all to see. Khoa Nguyen has vi- various research groups in the department are also on the sions of a football match or an actual play, a human-robot agenda. For many, the High-Voltage Laboratory and the interaction in four acts – an unusual number for an unusual Wearable Computing Lab were personal highlights. And drama. Felix was extremely excited when he spoke about the

16 “model aircraft control” project. For Ramona, her two lunch ting in-depth insights into a subject. Some might be disap- appointments with female students in electrical engineer- pointed. Or disillusioned. This year, too, some future ing were highly illuminating: “The conversations opened school-leavers spoke to Kläy about misconceptions con- my eyes. Now I can see what the degree is really all about.” cerning the degree they had been considering. “Most were glad to have found out in time”, she says. “At least they Rap battle with robots now know they will be happier in another subject.” Friday lunchtime: it’s time for the final presentation of the And Ramona, Bravin, Felix and Co.? None of them “will five project groups in this year’s study weeks. The audi- forget this week together soon”; a week they describe as ence spreads out on the narrow rows of seats – pupils, par- “very useful” and “helpful for the future”, not least because ents, teachers, friends and lecturers. It is loud; the excited they are now “better oriented” in the jungle of subjects. pupils need a last-minute discussion on the main points. Finally, Pascal says: “This week showed me that you are not The microphone screeches. Rector Heidi Wunderli-Allens- alone as a technology enthusiast, but that there are many pach lauds the courage the school students have shown in other school students out there who are interested in this the face of new challenges. kind of thing.” ■ First up are the architects. They have realised realistic structures in small groups. Applause. Then it is the robot team’s turn. The play proves to be an entertaining video collage. The 20 youths have filmed each other interacting ETH Zurich’s study weeks are organised by the Orientation and Coach­ with an NAO robot during more or less philosophical dia- ing­for­Students­­unit­(SoC),­a­department­of­the­Rector.­The­SoC­sup­ logues, an imaginary walk in the park or an Indian rap ports future students in their choice of degree, prepares them for the re­ battle. Finally, they treat the audience to a demonstration ality of the course they have selected and eases them into the initial of the live-action robot to rapturous applause and cheers. degree­phase­with­a­coaching­service.­Besides­the­study­weeks,­the­SoC­ also offers secondary school children additional opportunities to get to An important orientation aid in the subject jungle know ETH Zurich as a place of study and research: it organises degree A few days later, when asked to sum up this year’s study information days and visits various cantonal schools all over Switzerland weeks, Gaby Kläy, the project leader in the Orientation with an exhibition as part of the project “ETH on the road”. It also has a and Coaching for Students unit, did not have to think for broad­range­of­individual­consultation­services­for­Bachelor’s­students­ long: “In a word: enthusiasm. Some completely flabber- and people interested in doing a degree. gasted parents told me after the final presentation that they had never seen their child so enthusiastic.” www.soc.ethz.ch ➔ Sometimes, however, the study week has the opposite www.ethz.ch/prospectives/advice/index_EN ➔ effect, such as when unrealistic bubbles are burst after get-

17 No 3, September 2012

Focus IT security

Safely into the networked world Our everyday lives are increasingly shifting onto the internet. In this cyber world we meet people, conduct business and even transport extremely ­sensitive data from one side of the globe to the other. Criminals are also ­increasingly exploiting this boundless freedom. In order to stay one step ahead of them, security experts toil away at ingenious encryption methods and improved operating systems. However, each and every one of us can forearm ourselves against cyber hazards.

Crime scene cyberspace Page 20 Our tracks on the net Page 26 Legal uncertainty in the global village Page 32 From the world of research Gaps in the standard Page 23 Constructed security Page 28 Deleting data without a trace Page 31 No hidden payments Page 33 Glossary Viruses, worms, Trojans and Co. Page 37

18 19 No 3, September 2012

Focus IT security

Crime scene cyberspace

Boundless freedom of communication does not only open up undreamt-of possibilities for honest internet users: for criminals, too, the cyber world is a goldmine. The number of crimes on the net has skyrocketed in recent years. And the culprits are becoming increasingly shrewd. Their attacks are not only aimed at private individuals; the state and businesses are also in- creasingly being targeted.

20 Christine Heidemann

It can happen now, at any moment. Perhaps you have On the other hand, says the expert, hacker equipment found a USB stick bearing your company’s logo in the un- is easy to get hold of these days. Whether it is a WLAN derground car park and take a quick look at what is on it, base station or programs which virtually anyone can use to to see who might have mislaid it. Or a call comes in that generate viruses in a few mouse clicks: it has never been you recognise as internal. A voice claiming to be a col- easier to harm others. Furthermore, criminals are con- league of someone you know from the IT department tells stantly looking for new niches and are becoming faster and you that there is a problem with your computer. He just shrewder. “By the time you’re onto them, they have al- needs to know your username and password so he can sort ready discovered a new weak point and developed new it out. And moments later there it is: a malicious program, malware.” Zero-day exploits, where criminals have already otherwise known as malware. taken advantage of a security loophole before developers They often come concealed as a “Trojan horse”, where a or users even discover them, are constantly on the rise. seemingly useful program smuggles in its undesirable coun- The manufacturers of protective software and malicious terpart. In the most harmless cases, it’s spyware – software software are racing at full speed, neck and neck. that enables companies to snoop on a user’s internet behav- iour so that they can target their advertising messages. Or Not even pacemakers are safe worse, a program referred to as a “backdoor”, which affords Incredibly, even pacemakers and air-pressure sensors can be criminals access to other people’s computers undetected. hacked and manipulated, reports Capkun, who becomes a This allows them to steal passwords or sensitive company wily IT criminal himself almost every single day – for re- data such as business or construction plans – or, in a worst- search purposes, of course. Together with his colleagues he case scenario, manipulate or sabotage entire systems. wants to find out which computer systems are especially vul- Like the real world, the cyber world also has its dark nerable to attack and where, and then how they can be pro- side. It’s been a long time since the internet was a place tected. In their interdisciplinary collaboration at the ZISC, where users could surf, shop, exchange information and do the ETH Zurich security experts also examine the needs of business with peace of mind. It is increasingly turning into different industries. The specialist centre for IT security is a crime scene. Every day we receive fresh reports of viruses, currently funded by Credit Suisse, Google, the federal au- worms, Trojans and Co. The fear of attacks with grave con- thority ArmaSuisse and security technology provider Kaba. sequences is mounting, and with it the cry for more secu- Capkun is fairly unflappable when it comes to cybercrime. rity – both in the private and public spheres. Guaranteeing “However, Stuxnet took even me by surprise.” The Stuxnet this is a challenge for both the state and for business. How- virus, discovered in 2010, reignited the debate on cyber se- ever, scientists like Srdjan Capkun are working under pres- curity. Even though experts already started talking about IT sure to make the data network safer. security back in the 1980s, Stuxnet was like a wake-up call. The virus had been painstakingly developed by the USA for Easier for criminals importation into the Iranian nuclear plant Natanz via USB “The opportunities for attackers to zero in on someone sticks. During its last attack, the computer worm is supposed else’s systems have increased enormously”, says Capkun, a to have rendered about 1,000 of the then 5,000 centrifuges for professor from ETH Zurich’s Institute of Information Secu- uranium enrichment temporarily inoperative – while report- rity and director of the Zurich Information Security and ing to the control personnel that everything was functioning Privacy Center (ZISC), which is also located at ETH Zurich. properly. However, this dangerous virus was also discovered The reason for this is the increasing networking of com- in the systems of gas, electricity and water companies in other puter systems. They have become more and more complex countries. Above all, Capkun is impressed with the “enor- as a result, and thus more difficult to monitor. Conse- mous amount of expertise necessary to develop such a virus quently, criminals can often operate unnoticed for quite with thousands of functions.” Although he is convinced that some time – if they are ever discovered at all. such an elaborate and targeted attack on companies and sen- Regardless of whether we are talking about maintaining sitive infrastructures will not remain an isolated incident, power stations, managing sensitive data or controlling rail there is no need for paranoia in this respect. or air traffic: “All systems have got security flaws and a lot more could happen”, warns Capkun. Besides, people are Stuxnet was sabotage hacking less and less for the fun of it. “Meanwhile, there is Myriam Dunn Cavelty from ETH Zurich’s Center for Secu- a whole industry behind it.” rity Studies also warns against excessive scaremongering.

21 No 3, September 2012

Focus IT security

And she hesitates to use the word “cyberwar”, which has even aware of this and either neglect to protect their IT been bandied about more and more frequently since Stux- systems or play down the threat. However, Capkun says net, for it she claims it is too vague. While this was admit- that it is precisely the increasing complexity of the systems tedly the first major incidence of a country being behind a that means caution should be exercised: “You only need cyber attack, for the ETH Zurich scientist the Stuxnet at- think of smart grids: intelligent electricity systems that tacks were acts of sabotage, not war: “The demand for ar- won’t only be able to transport power, but also data and mament and defence in this respect is a Cold-War philoso- information in future.” If they were to be manipulated, phy and a step in the wrong direction.” overloads could be faked and power cuts provoked. Nonetheless, the worry that the conventional balance But how can such massive encroachments into networks of power in the world could shift via the cyber dimension be prevented? First of all, the ETH Zurich specialists agree, in the not-too-distant future is not entirely unjustified – the threat needs to be recognised and taken seriously. The something which a superpower like the USA is especially “National strategy to protect Switzerland from cyber risks” afraid of. But at least in terms of critical infrastructures, (“Nationale Strategie zum Schutz der Schweiz vor Cyber- says the researcher, the state is unable to do very much risiken”), recently passed by the Swiss Federal Council, was anyway: around ninety-five percent of these facilities, in- a step in the right direction. Furthermore, says Dunn cluding the power supply, are in private hands. Cavelty, there need to be incentives – perhaps tax-wise – for Dunn Cavelty primarily advises the Swiss Military De- companies to invest more in security. Internationally uni- partment on cyber security on behalf of the Federal Office form standards and legal foundations could stem the threat for Civil Protection. She searches for trends, compares the further. And last but not least, scientists are called for. cyber strategies of different countries and gives talks on the topic – including at reinsurer Swiss Re recently. “The insur- Coping, not resisting ance industry has been extremely interested in cyber risks For Dunn Cavelty, an efficient collaboration between poli- for some time now. On the one hand it sees a possible mar- ticians, entrepreneurs and researchers is essential to com- ket here, but on the other it is afraid of being attacked itself.” bat the threat from the cyber world. Moreover, she ob- However, in order to be able to calculate premiums, in- serves a trend from the USA that is increasingly taking surers need reliable figures. How great is the danger of a hold in Europe: the notion of resilience, the ability to cope. company falling victim to a cyber attack? How many at- Here, the assumption is that certain attacks or failures can- tacks have there been on similar industries in the past? not be prevented and thus it makes more sense to focus on And what does it cost to repair the damage? This data is coping with them rather than fending them off. lacking, complains the expert from ETH Zurich. “The few “If we want to find out how resilient a society is towards figures that exist hail almost exclusively from the antivirus cyber attacks, first we need reliable data”, says Dunn Cavelty. industry.” In other words, from an industry that profits How fault-tolerant are the networks of sensitive infrastruc- from a high cybercrime rate. tures? How well prepared is the population for an act of cy- However, many companies are not just scared of losing ber sabotage, such as a power failure? Do citizens know how money; they also fear for their reputations. If sensitive to get water in an emergency? Creating a corresponding re- data falls into the hands of third parties, not only is it em- silience index is one of the main challenges for research. barrassing; the customers also lose trust. This, coupled Ultimately, say the ETH Zurich experts, it is its uncontrol- with the worry that the state could regulate the protection lable aspect that makes the cyber world so threatening. The of the security system in future, is responsible for many malevolence is diffuse and acts covertly. There is no longer a attacks going unreported. And a large proportion is never visible adversary. And there is not much time to think and even discovered in the first place. Naturally, companies act – of that, Srdjan Capkun is certain: “In the cyber world, have the latest protective measures, such as firewalls or everything happens in a flash.” Consequently, he wants to antivirus software. “However, most of them are unarmed delve as deeply into the thick of the action as possible with against sophisticated industrial espionage or sabotage at- his team: “The more intensively we work with those affected, tacks”, says Dunn Cavelty. These complex APT (Advanced the more we know about their problems and the more effi- Persistent Threat) attacks currently make up an estimated ciently and quickly we can develop suitable solutions.” ■ three per cent of all attacks. And their number is rising. “A country’s entire economy could be crippled by such www.zisc.ethz.ch ➔ attacks”, says Capkun. Apparently, many companies are not www.css.ethz.ch ➔

22 Gaps in the standard

Felix Würsten If you want to check whether a The researchers conducted their How do I know that the person I am protocol is secure, first you need to study with the aid of tools that Ba- communicating with on the internet define what features it should have. sin’s group had developed in recent is actually who he claims to be? And Is it only supposed to prevent out- years. “These tools provide mathe- how do I know if the data he is con- siders from receiving information matical proof that a particular proto- veying is actually what he wanted to through observation? Or should it col has got the features it should send me? Such questions are inevita- offer protection from active attacks? have”, explains Basin. “Not only did ble when confidential information is The scientists from ETH Zurich we find the aforementioned weak- to be transferred though the internet. discovered that many protocols de- nesses in the ISO standard; we were And thus it goes without saying that scribed in the ISO standard do not also able to demonstrate that our sensitive transactions require a secure actually have the features they are recommendations can actually rem- and reliable authentication of the supposed to. edy these shortcomings.” ■ partners involved. “Really, we thought the ISO stand- Consequently, a whole series of ard would be a solid basis. It has al- www.infsec.ethz.ch ➔ protocols has been devised in recent ready been used for a long time and years based on different approaches. refined constantly”, reports Cremers. Every bank, for instance, uses its Admittedly, they only discovered own protocol. Nevertheless, many subtle weaknesses. “But these can still of these protocols have a common be exploited by attackers.” With his basis: they orient themselves by the team, he has now put together a series ISO/IEC-9798 standard, which lays of recommendations as to how the down the fundamental principles as ISO standard can be improved. These to how such protocols should be have already been adopted by the composed. ISO Committee in a new version of On behalf of the Japanese govern- the standard. ment, David Basin, a professor at the Institute of Information Security, and his colleagues Cas Cremers and Simon Meier have now investigated just how reliable this standard really is, as the Japanese government would like to use it for its own e-government solu- tions.

23 24 Focus Timeline: Major known incidents cyber

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 13 12 11 Conficker: 10 9

(could notbeconfirmed). suspected tohavecausedblack-outinUS Was update.com”. Systemcrash asasideeffect. computers. for DdoS-attacks. WindowsAddress Book. the firstfiftypeoplein tothe sent itself infectede-mails. systems with tration (Trojan horse). Back masshysteria. digital hardsectors ofthe Causedfirst nulls. with disk curity. generalHuge impactonthe awareness ofinse- Cyber ARPANET becameunusable. they until systems(seealsoincident35). Stuxnet: crash. Sasser: Internettraffic slowdown,system net traffic worldwide. sloweddownInter Slammer: DDoS-attacks, Blaster: Nimda: Code Red: I LoveYou: Melissa: Michelangelo: Morris Worm: cal toStuxnet(copy-cat software). industrial control- systems.Codealmostidenti usefulinattacking Duqu:Looksforinformation

Malware 1986 Orifice: Tool forremote systemadminis- Allowed externalcontrol Allowed overinfected DDos-attacksagainst“windows- 1987 Shut down Internet mail, clogged Shut downInternetmail,clogged Spies on and subverts industrial Spies onandsubvertsindustrial Forms botnets. Defaced websites, used machines Defacedwebsites,usedmachines 14 Overwrote copyofitself, fileswith 1

1988 IT security Slowed down machines in the Slowed downmachinesinthe Overwrote firsthundred the 1989

1990 27 1991

1992 2

- 1993 15 16 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 17 16 15 14 26 18 1994 hacktivist operations.hacktivist Sony andotherattacks:Highlypublicised perceived anti-WikiLeaks behaviour. nents ofInternetpiracy andcompanieswith Coordinated, decentralised attacksonoppo- Operations Payback andAvenge Assange: 28 December 1966to28February 2010. embassiesaround world,datedfrom the cablesfromdiplomatic confidential 274US Wikileaks Cablegate:251,287 leaked tor companies. high-tech,security,these anddefencecontrac- source modify tentially coderepositories at companiestogainaccessandpo- and other Operation Aurora: AttacksagainstGoogle in103countries. locations media economic,and ofhigh-valuepolitical, tion GhostNet: Cyber-spying operation, infiltra- ofmachinesin196countries. millions Zeus Botnet:Trojan horse“Zeus”,controlled US. systems inthe Titan Rain:Accesstohigh-profile computer profile computersystems. computernetworks. Solar Sunrise:SeriesofattacksonDoD accountsaround world. the andtransferredCitibank moneytobank the Citibank incident:US$10msiphonedfrom the US. file computersystemsin Rome Labincident:Break-ins intohigh-pro- into high-profilethe US. computersystemsin Hannover Hackers(Cuckoo'sEgg):Break-ins worth € 6.9 m, or US$ 9.3 m. €6.9m,orUS$9.3m. worth emissionsallowances 475,000 carbondioxide Theft ofCo Moonlight Maze: Moonlight

Cibercrime/espionage 1995

1996 2 -Emmission Papers: Theft of 1997 17 3 18 Pattern ofprobing ofhigh- 1998 28 4 1999 29 5 2000 6 30

2001 7

2002 8

19

2003 9 35 34 33 32 31 30 28

29 27 10 No 3, September 2012

nuclear program. been deliberately released toslowdownIranian mighthave Stuxnet: Computerwormthat exile groups. infiltrations ofcomputersbelongingto Tibetan GhostNet against numerous Georgian websites. DDoS-attacks Georgia DDoS-attacks: ministries, newspapers,andbroadcasters. banks, Estonianparliament, web sitesofthe against DDoS-attacks Estonia DDoS-attacks: bombs. were usingtoplanandcarryoutroadside terrorists devicesthat communication and other Irak: Cyber-attack phones,computers, oncell plane wasforced tolandonChineseterritory. tacks afterUSreconnaissance andsurveillance nese andUSwebsiteswavesofDDoS-at «Cyber World-War I»:DefacementofChi- fada. - secondInti websitesduringthe and partisan of-Service (DoS)attacksagainstgovernment Numerous incidents. hacktivism warfare information componentsincombat. War”. of full-spectrum Sustaineduseofthe Operation Force»: «Allied “The firstInternet tion. War. informa- Accesstounclassified,sensitive Intrusions intoPentagon computersduringGulf «Cyber-lntifada»: Dutch hacker incident: Dutch hackerincident: 2004

Main incidentsdubbedas“cyberwar” 2005

infiltrations: GhostNetrelated 2006 31 20 32

Email flooding and Denial- 2007 11 33 2008 21

34 2009 22 23 12 35

2010 24 25 13

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cw55_axpo_Staumauer_210x297_d_ZS_ra 1 24.08.12 15:32 No 3, September 2012

Focus IT security

Our tracks on the net Surfing on the internet, posting pictures on Facebook or downloading the latest app – we leave our digital fingerprints everywhere. Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner Hanspeter Thür, ETH Zurich pro- fessor Bernhard Plattner and Marcel Zumbühl, the head of security at Swisscom Switzerland, discuss whether and how we can protect ourselves against data abuse.

Interview: Martina Märki and Roland Baumann

Surfing on the net can be dangerous. You can easily receive That sounds very complicated for laymen. Do we all need a uninvited guests in the form of viruses or unwanted pro- course to use the internet? gramme add-ons. As a surfer, how do I know whether I am Plattner: Actually, we do need to become more aware moving in a safe environment? of the fact that surfing is something that has to be learned. Marcel Zumbühl: With certain browsers, the address A certain amount of training is necessary if we want to make bar is marked in green or red. This tells me whether the the most of the opportunities that the internet and com- system classifies the page as secure or not. However, this munication technologies can offer us today. mostly only applies to part of the content. If I have in- Hanspeter Thür: The FDPIC is trying to pave the way stalled a firewall on my PC that registers which connec- with training schemes. We are focusing on school children tions are being established, I can see fairly quickly whether of all age groups, as the majority of parents are out of their a page contains adware, for instance. This enables data to depth and the teachers are also glad of some support. We be collected that is then used for advertising purposes. provide them with course modules for media lessons, which Nowadays, many websites have these or similar add-ons. include programmes that are even geared towards five-year- Bernhard Plattner: Certificates enable corresponding olds. security checks. In theory, this works very well. In practice, Zumbühl: Swisscom is also active in this respect, often however, it is evident that dealing with certificates is tricky in conjunction with the public sector – with campaigns for users. Plus there have been cases of forged certificates. like “Schulen ans Internet” (“Schools into the internet”) or special courses for seniors, for instance.

Interviewees: Can providers also help by giving their internet subscribers or

Bernhard Plattner, a professor at ETH Zurich’s Computer Engineering and mobile phone customers tips on using them more securely? Networks Laboratory (TIK) Zumbühl: We actually try to point out security aspects Hanspeter Thür, Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner to people who buy new devices, such as the fact that they (FDPIC) should protect Android devices with antivirus software. Marcel Zumbühl, head of security at Swisscom (Switzerland) Ltd We are currently discussing whether we should install such programmes in advance. We already configure the

26 Marcel Zumbühl, head of security at Swisscom, ETH Zurich professor Bernhard Plattner and Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner Hanspeter Thür see a danger in combining large data sets.

security settings as we deem optimal when supplying the Zumbühl: Especially if the app hasn’t be checked. App- devices. However, the customer can change these settings store providers have different standards in this respect. afterwards, of course. Some vet apps extremely meticulously, others less so. You Thür: That’s one of our theories. We say the manufac- also have to bear in mind the fact that things develop very turer should supply his products in such a way that all the quickly in purely technical terms. Every day, there are about security and data protection settings are optimal. If the cus- two gigabytes of malicious codes that hit the market. It takes tomer doesn’t want that, he should have to take action, hours, if not days, to analyse all this and incorporate it into which mostly requires a certain amount of knowledge, too. the antivirus software. So even a decent antivirus program The average customer, however, should be able to bank on is only about sixty percent effective. the fact that he has got maximum protection without re- quiring any special assistance. How close is research to tracking down the “pests”? Plattner: It’s up to industry to trace the pests promptly, Purely from a technical perspective, how much protection can actu- not researchers. However, we know that careless program- ally be guaranteed? ming is often responsible for software weaknesses that at- Plattner: You can’t guarantee one-hundred-percent tackers exploit. That’s where we come in to provide sound protection, regardless of what platform we’re talking about methodological foundations. For instance, we can say how a – no matter whether it’s a PC, tablet or smartphone. And website should be designed to display as few weaknesses as don’t forget that such a device never stays in the condition possible. Incidentally, nowadays the threat no longer comes in which it was supplied. As soon as the user installs the from individual hackers, but from extremely well-organised first new app, it can already become unsafe. cybercriminals who effectively form their own industry.

27 No 3, September 2012

Focus IT security

Constructed security

Felix Würsten As far as he is concerned, they do However, there is a compelling Nowadays, it is impossible to imagine not solve the basic problem, namely reason why this approach has not yet many IT applications without cryp­ that the manner in which such proto­ been used in cryptography. There is tography anymore, especially where cols are designed is simply outdated. a hypothetical entity that is difficult those involved need to be identified He is convinced that “we need a par­ to grasp and is only posited for the reliably and data transferred safely and adigm shift in building cryptographic security analysis: the attacker. As the unaltered. This is where the use of systems.” attacker does not really exist, it is fun­ extensive protocols comes in that guar­ “Cryptography should become a damentally impossible to test whether antee the security of transactions. constructive discipline like many the individual components have the However, these protocols have one other engineering disciplines, such desired characteristics. “In cryptogra­ major drawback: they are sometimes as automobile manufacturing.” A phy, you have to prove that the spe­ so complex that they can no longer constructive discipline based on the cifications have been adhered to”, ex­ be controlled correctly and repeatedly principle that a complex entity can plains Maurer. “This leads to a whole facilitate fresh attacks, as Ueli Maurer, be built from simpler parts that all new mathematical complexity.” a professor of theoretical computer sci­ have particular specifications. These If cryptography is to become a con­ ence, explains. days, it is not only cars that are structive discipline as Maurer sug­ According to Maurer, the efforts built according to this principle, but gests, then this does not just need a to render these protocols more se­ also normal software: one divides change of thinking in the commu­ cure through continual improvements the project into clearly defined mod­ nity, but also a lot of theoretical are falling short. ules and then pieces them together. groundwork. What is cryptography? What exactly does “construct” mean? Which parts make up a cryptographic system? And how can they be as­ sembled successfully? These are the kind of questions Maurer is tackling in his work. At the moment, he is not merely interested in concrete ap­ plications, but also in a fundamental way of thinking: how do we build a system that is really secure? Maurer is convinced that his groundwork is important for practical applications: “Cryptography is a gratifying field for us theorists. After all, without theo­ retical foundations, you can’t even begin to build a secure system.” ■

www.crypto.ethz.ch ➔

28 Listening to you reminds me of the race between the tortoise cate my “likes”, if I read certain articles on the net – I am and the hare… always disclosing information about myself, my behaviour Zumbühl: Actually, it’s a bit like cops and robbers. As a and my interests, which can be collected and used for mar- provider, we want to offer as secure a service as possible. keting purposes. We constantly look for the best solutions on the market for us to improve our networks, such as effective antivirus soft- So does that mean we’re effectively powerless as users, left at ware or spam filters. If a customer has received a phishing the mercy of the data collectors? email, we evaluate exactly what the attack looks like, Plattner: It has truly become difficult to retain control whether and how we can block it, and whether other cus- over your own data these days. First of all, you should al- tomers have been affected. So we’re trying to break the ways think long and hard about what personal informa- chain between the attack and its consequences. And we con- tion you make public. Moreover, you should effectively sider how to get in touch with our customers and how to behave as chaotically and freakishly as possible – in other keep them informed as best as we can. words, not act predictably – if you really want to make it hard for data collectors to do their handiwork. Thür: Practically speaking, you can use different search “If I don’t pay with money on the engines and browsers, for instance, or keep changing them every so often. You should change passwords from time to internet, I pay with data.” time anyway. And exercise caution in choosing the service- Hanspeter Thür provider, too.

Cybercriminals conceal their identity on the net. Couldn’t I use Plattner: It’s a balancing act. If, as a user, I notice that similar techniques as a surfer to remain anonymous, too? my provider has seen me fall into a trap, I might be glad at Plattner: Yes, there are so-called Tor networks, which first. However, the next moment I’ll start wondering encrypt our actions as users in one or several steps so that whether I am being watched the whole time. What else they appear as the actions of an anonymous server. The does the provider know about me? problem is that many of the services we use only work if we authenticate ourselves, such as payment or localisation That brings us to the issue of data protection. services. Consequently, anonymisation techniques are Thür: It really depends on the purpose of gathering only of limited use. data. If I do business with a company, the firm I am enter- ing into the contract with may collect my data to serve me as a customer. They might even be allowed to send me “Technically speaking, you can’t advertisements for their own products. As a customer, however, I certainly don’t want the company to sell or pass guarantee one-hundred-percent on the information I have entrusted to them in the course protection.” of our business. So as a customer you should be critical in Bernhard Plattner your choice of provider. For example, I wouldn’t necessar- ily choose a provider that is affiliated to a company that procures data on a grand scale. You should always have a Zumbühl: There is also the fact that every one of your look at the business model. If a provider offered me a lot devices has been highly personalised. How likely is it that of memory for free, I’d ask myself what it did with the someone else will have exactly the same apps as me on his information about me to which it has access. smartphone? I am effectively using something unique, Plattner: As a user, I also have the option of paying for which means I am already recognisable from the profile I a service. In return, the service provider gives me a guar- have got on my little machine. antee that my data won’t be passed on to others. Plattner: Scientists have shown that every user has his Thür: Yes, it’s simple in principle: nothing’s for free – not own highly specific user behaviour. We have all got a digital even on the net. In other words, if I don’t pay with money, fingerprint that clearly distinguishes us from others. I pay with data. And every address becomes more valuable Zumbühl: This especially becomes problematic if the with additional attributes. If I enter a competition, if I indi- data I produce with different uses can be correlated. This is

29 No 3, September 2012

Focus IT security

illegal in Switzerland, but may well not be in other coun- few problems. Once again, it’s a huge data set that provides tries. very precise information about my lifestyle in that my en- Plattner: Yes, I see this as a great threat that we will be ergy consumption is recorded constantly and in detail. I facing in the near future. You might have carried out an- haven’t got a problem with that under the terms of a func- onymisations on a data set in order to protect your data, tioning, democratic, constitutional state. But under differ- but they can still be reversed. In my opinion, however, the ent circumstances, it soon becomes problematic. The in- more obvious threat at present is the careless use of Twit- creasing size of databases and the expanding numbers of ter, Facebook and similar platforms by many people. The link-up and analysis possibilities can also be exploited for information I voluntarily disclose about myself via Face- political purposes. book can easily by misused by organised criminals, such as Plattner: As researchers, we’re now intensely in- for personalised phishing emails. volved in addressing how you can disclose data from large data sets without third parties being able to extract How exactly does that work? more information than was originally intended. And Zumbühl: It’s very easy. You write on Facebook or Twitter we’re still looking into the problem of software weak- that you went hiking in the mountains at the weekend, for nesses. Between 2000 and 2008, over 30,000 serious soft- example, and on Monday you receive a bogus message, sup- ware weaknesses came to light. We made a statistical posedly from a friend, saying “thanks for the great walk; here analysis of when and how they became apparent and are some photos I took.” You click on them and you’ve al- what happened next. After all, depending on who finds ready fallen into the trap. the weakness and how it comes to light, it can either be remedied quickly or exploited. We have developed a measuring rod to gauge whether industry is on the right “Around two gigabytes of track or not. We’d like to repeat this study annually to malicious codes hit the market create a quality barometer for the software industry. ■ every day.” Marcel Zumbühl

And what does the future hold? What are you currently working on and what challenges lie ahead for you? Zumbühl: At the moment, I’m mainly focusing on phishing attacks against customers. We are looking into how we can stop the mechanism earlier and how we can make the net we provide as unattractive as possible to attackers. As regards the spam curve, we’re in a pretty good position with our service compared to the rest of the world. In the future, the “Internet of Things” will present fresh challenges. If my fridge shops for me and the tablets I swallow immediately register my state of health, I ask myself how we want to keep this data under control. Thür: In the last few months, we’ve been focusing inten- sively on Google Street View, where we’re on the right track with the federal court decision and negotiations for the blanking-out of faces and the protection against recordings of private locations. As for the future, I’m worried about Smart Grid. I think the idea of an intelligent power grid to use energy as efficiently as possible is good in principle. From a data protection perspective, however, there are a

30 Deleting data without a trace

Felix Würsten The researchers from ETH Zurich future, and the keys stored at a central Private pictures, contact data, confi- investigated how data on mobile location. The aim of the encryption dential emails and business memos – devices can be deleted safely using is not to protect data that is still being we store a myriad of sensitive data the example of the Android Smart- used, but rather to facilitate rapid on our smartphones. And naturally we phones, which are based upon the and secure deletion. assume that it is deleted safely again openly accessible Linux operating With this approach, the operating when we no longer need it. After all, system. “The problem isn’t limited system no longer needs to overwrite it is precisely this data that we want to Android phones, however. It basi- the data itself, just the corresponding to prevent from falling into the wrong cally affects all mobile devices that key. As the section with the keys hands. work with flash memory”, says Rear- only takes up a small part of the entire However, deleting information on don. “This includes iPhones, tablets, memory, the mobile device can thus smartphones is nowhere near as laptops and cameras.” be protected in a short space of time. ■ reliable as users would like to believe. Consequently, the scientists devel- According to Joel Reardon and his oped two approaches towards solv- www.syssec.ethz.ch/research/index ➔ colleagues from ETH Zurich’s Institute ing the problem. One of them offers of Information Security, data be- pragmatic assistance: the owners of lieved to have been deleted safely can Android devices can download a spe- on average remain intact and rela- cial app that removes the data safely. tively easily readable by third parties The app not only forces the device to for several days, depending on how overwrite the data in question on the often the smartphone is used. The storage device, but also on external reason is that data stored on flash storage media such as SD cards. memories, which are a standard fea- The second approach, however, ture on smartphones these days, is more fundamental and thus delves takes a relatively long time to delete deeper into the operating system. compared to con ventional storage Reardon and his colleagues suggest devices, where sensitive data can be that the data on flash memory de- overwritten selectively. vices be saved in an encoded form in

31 No 3, September 2012

Focus IT security

According to Bechtold, however, Legal uncertainty in the example of the file-sharing sites has a whole other dimension: “If cer- tain behaviour that is far removed the global village from applicable law is accepted by an entire generation, society has to weigh up the different interests: does Roland Baumann be re-written. In the past 20 years, it make sense to mobilise huge Not just the film and music in- this branch of law has grown enor- amounts of resources to enforce this dustries, but publishing houses mously in popularity, having been all law? Or does the legal system have to too are desperately seeking an- but forgotten in the previous decades. adjust to the new circumstances?” swers to the challenges that the It is not just specific issues of in- These are the questions that lie at the internet has brought with it. fringements of the law that are being heart of the copyright debate. Legal experts are also dealing ruled on by the judges. In fact, a with fundamental questions heated debate is taking place about How much copyright? surrounding copyright law. fundamental questions. In traditional economics, information – for example, in the form of a book or Whether it’s the latest film from Enforcing the law is expensive song – is a public good that can be Quentin Tarantino, Lady Gaga’s cur- and difficult used free of charge by everybody. If rent single or a bestselling audio book Stefan Bechtold, Professor for Intellec- the legal system did not provide for from Stephen King, it just takes a few tual Property at ETH Zurich, has been intellectual property rights, everyone mouse-clicks to copy files from the in- following these debates for years now would have an interest in consuming ternet, save them on your hard drive and sees one of the main problems for such public goods but no one would and use them without restriction. A copyright law in the fact that it is al- have an incentive to produce them. whole generation of young people is ways enforced territorially: “Although Thus, from a legal economics perspec- growing up in a world where the pre- copyright law was harmonised at an tive, copyright law aims to create in- dominant perception is that content early stage using international trea- centives for people to undertake crea- is available for free. File-sharing plat- ties, enforcement takes place in indi- tive tasks. forms such as BitTorrent leave virtu- vidual countries. This makes it not The internet has triggered a huge ally no wishes unanswered. Some- only expensive but also difficult to industrial change, allowing informa- where in the world, a file is uploaded enforce the law.” For example, if a tion to be disseminated and made ac- and it can then be used free of charge Swiss company wants to take action cessible much faster and much more by all users. It’s a real El Dorado of against legal infringements in Amer- efficiently. However, this in turn has information. ica, China and Russia, it has to go be- an impact on creative artists and cop- But the artists no longer receive fore the courts in each of these coun- yright associations. If authors do not any royalties, and their interests get tries. Not only can the judges pass find new ways to transform their cre- left behind. The situation is even different rulings in the different coun- ative works into cash, this could also more dramatic for music firms, film tries, but the rulings can also be en- have negative consequences for soci- distributors and publishing houses, forced in entirely different ways. In ety as a whole. As the social scientist whose entire existence is called into addition, most elements of copyright Stefan Bechtold agrees, this is difficult question. As representatives for the law came into being in the nineteenth to assess: “It is hard to make state- interests of the creative industry, they century, and there are always difficul- ments on how the economy would have not yet found any solutions for ties in addressing new technological develop if we added or removed cer- the infringements of copyright law possibilities. For example, to what ex- tain cases of state intervention. The that take place every time a file is cop- tent are individual users liable if they relationship between intellectual ied. Legal experts are also put on the upload files to a fire-sharing site, and property rights and dynamic innova- spot here. Intellectual property law, to what extent does the liability rest tion processes is a huge research area which includes copyright law, has to with the operator of the site? that is wide open.”

32 No hidden payments

Felix Würsten An uncomplicated, electronic pay- ment system that offers the same ad- vantages as cash – this is exactly what everyone has been dreaming of who has been fighting for more free- dom on the internet and against the might of the banks. Precisely one such system was created in 2009: the internet currency Bitcoin. Despite all the prophecies of doom that the system would soon burst like a bub- ble, and despite all the warnings that Bitcoin promotes trading in illegal goods, the new electronic currency has an increasing number of support- ers. The virtual money was made pos- sible by modern encryption tech- nology. Every Bitcoin is secured by Together with Ghassan Karame If Bitcoin is to establish itself as an a key; every transaction that the and Srdjan Capkun, Elli Androulaki, everyday, viable alternative, this gap (anonymous) users perform is regis- a postdoc at the Institute of Infor- needs to be plugged, confirms Capkun, tered so that the same coin cannot mation Security, managed to demon- in whose group the study was con- be used twice. However, the verifica- strate that there is actually a security ducted. “We are already in talks with tion of a payment usually takes ten loophole here, even if it has never the operators of the Bitcoin network whole minutes. Sometimes, the seller been exploited in concrete daily life. and have proposed a concrete solution, even has to wait for an hour before With an elaborate configuration, the which is now due to be imple- he can be sure that the money trans- buyer can actually spend his electronic mented.” ■ ferred is actually his. For online trad- coins twice: first, he buys the goods ers who sell books on the internet, he desires; then he transfers the same www.syssec.ethz.ch/research/index ➔ this amount of time is not a problem. amount to his own account. As the For quicker transactions, such as pur- transactions are verified via a complex chasing a hamburger at a snack bar, process in the Bitcoin network and however, it is a major obstacle. If the not by a central office, the buyer can buyer is not to wait unnecessarily perform an exchange manoeuvre: long, the seller has to hand over the the seller sees that the Bitcoins have goods without any definitive confir- been transferred to his account, so mation. he is willing to dispatch the goods. However, if the buyer is clever enough, the network only registers the sec- ond illegal transaction instead of the first legal one, and the buyer ends up with both: the goods and the money.

33 No 3, September 2012

Focus IT security

IT security solutions namely its open architecture that does dia or open source software, people One way of intervening to enforce the not allow any control over who adds are contributing to the welfare of so- law on the internet could involve IT which applications.” ciety as a whole. security measures. In the 1990s there At the end of the day, the central was a vision of what was referred to as Human behaviour is decisive for question is whether we will adhere Digital Rights Management. Unsettled the future less to laws on the internet if these by file-sharing sites such as Napster, In light of this situation, there are still laws are not enforced. Bechtold is the industry made attempts to create many unanswered questions today. carrying out research into this ques- an infrastructure that was to guarantee Will copyright law be relaxed and ad- tion on the basis of open source li- complete security and enforce rights. justed to the changed framework con- censes, which are sometimes in- In certain areas like pay TV and DVDs, ditions? Or will there be attempts to fringed upon but seldom legally these technologies are in use today, change the social norms by imposing enforced. Do the programmers stick and mobile communication is also more and higher penalties for small to the rules even though they know moving partly in this direction. “How- but widespread transgressions of the that they do not have to fear any con- ever, there is no longer any talk of a law? Ultimately, the answers to these sequences if they break them? Using big vision of a comprehensive rights questions will depend on human be- a database with several tens of thou- management system”, says Bechtold. haviour. Business models such as Ap- sands of software projects, Bechtold “In addition to huge technical chal- ple’s iTunes show that users are in- – together with his post-doctoral stu- lenges and data protection issues, such deed willing to pay for security and dent Dr Thomas Maillart – is carrying systems can also be problematic from convenience. Maybe this also has out an empirical study of how often a legal perspective because they can something to do with a preference for and under what conditions licenses unilaterally protect the legal position fairness. Modern economics knows are infringed upon. “We hope that of just one party.” Ultimately, though, that people are perfectly willing to this project will give us a detailed in- the main issue is that there would be make a contribution for a public good. sight into the relationship between a high price to pay for all-encompass- As a result, the open internet has human behaviour, social norms and ing Digital Rights Management: “It brought forth a large community that legal institutions in complex net- clashes with one of the main princi- waives the right to payment for its works like the internet.” ■ ples for the success of the internet, copyright. With products like Wikipe-

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35 No 3, September 2012

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36 Focus IT security

Glossary Viruses, worms, Trojans and Co. Firewall Tor network Adware A system that limits access to a net- A network that encrypts a user’s con- A malicious program that, unlike spy- work based on particular rules to nections on the internet in such a way ware (see below), does not target the protect the computer against attacks that they appear as actions of an user’s personal data, but rather serves from the internet. anonymous server. Using Tor protects advertising or market research pur- the user from data traffic analyses. poses. It is often installed unbeknown Cryptography to the user along with useful software A branch of mathematics concerned Trojan horse or through web access. with information systems that are re- A seemingly useful program that sistant to unauthorised reading and conceals a malicious one – such as APT modification. In cryptography, pro- spyware – and sneaks it into com- (Advanced persistent threats) cesses are developed that can be used puter systems. Sophisticated, complex, generally more to identify IT users reliably and prolonged cyber attacks for the pur- transfer data securely (i.e. secretly Viruses / Worms poses of spying or sabotage. and unaltered). Computer programs that duplicate themselves and primarily spread in Backdoor Malware networks. Viruses need another pro- A malicious program that criminals Umbrella term for unwelcome, often gram to attach themselves to; worms use to gain access to someone else’s malicious software. spread independently. computer through the “backdoor” – usually via Trojan horses, viruses or Phishing e-mails Zero-day exploit worms. Bogus e-mails designed to coax the IT A security flaw that has already been user into surrendering sensitive data exploited by criminals before devel- Botnet such as passwords. opers discover them, i.e. before day A remote-controlled network of com- “zero.” puters that criminals use to carry out Protocol DDoS attacks, for instance (see be- Set of rules that describe how data low). packets are transported from a sender to a recipient on the internet. Secu- DDoS rity protocols, such as for web-based (Distributed Denial of Service) transactions, run in the background Coordinated DoS attacks (see below) and serve to make communication on a larger scale with several aggres- more secure. sive systems. Spyware DoS Malware that spies on users without (Denial of Service) their knowledge and sends personal Attacks that prevent computers or data such as passwords, account de- networks from being available, that tails or surfing behaviour on the in- “deny service.” By being inundated ternet to software producers or third with e-mails, for instance. parties.

37 No 3, September 2012

Zoom

Nicola Spaldin (right) with team member Frank Lichtenberg in the new lab.

Max Rössler Prize 2012 In search of materials that don’t even exist yet

Martina Märki hard-working or very popular at con- top or in any car”, says Spaldin. A ve- Is there a material that is both ferences – and probably both. And in hicle, for instance, has over 200 mag- magnetically and electrically her own way, she’s well organised: nets in electric motors, sensors and polarised? Not by nature. How- there on her meeting table, sur- other instruments. At present, mag- ever, professor of materials rounded by all kinds of scientific doc- nets can only be controlled via electri- theory Nicola Spaldin and her uments and notes, lies music for clari- cally generated magnetic fields, which team are working on it. This net and flute. “A colleague and I were are formed using a wire coil with elec- ETH Zurich researcher recently practising a little during the lunch tricity flowing through it. This takes won the Max Rössler Prize hour”, she explains matter-of-factly. up space, adds weight and unneces- for her pioneering research. Chamber music is one of her passions. sary heat – and ultimately uses up lots Another is science. Solid-state chemis- of energy. So-called magnetoelectric A minimalistic office; in a plain, hand- try, to be precise. materials, on the other hand, would blown glass vase there is a seemingly Nicola Spaldin and her team are constitute a magnet and control sys- random jumble of thick plastic name looking to develop new materials that tem all rolled into one. In a nutshell: tags, laminated simply, with clips, on combine special properties, such as a “The combination of both properties a ribbon, some with the logos of material that is both magnetically and would enable us to make great head- events and institutions, others with- electrically polarised. From a techni- way in energy efficiency and minia- out. Only the name is always the cal standpoint, there would be no turisation.” same: Nicola Spaldin. No doubt this shortage of applications for it. “It It’s a nice idea. The only snag is young scientist is either extremely would be extremely useful in any lap- that no such material exists that com-

38 bines these properties. Materials with convinced from a theoretical point of help investigate more precisely what good magnetic properties, such as view that a partnership between the happened in the early period of the iron or nickel, are usually poor con- materials is possible, perhaps with universe after the big bang. Along ductors and thus not electrically po- one or two small modifications, and with cosmologists, she is currently larised. Conversely, oxides, which can give us precisely the properties working on developing appropriate Nicola Spaldin likes working with be- we are looking for.” lab experiments. cause they have a good electrical po- From materials research to cosmol- larisation, are useless as magnets, ex- From simulation to the lab ogy, interdisciplinary collaboration is plains the chemist. Then it gets serious. Potential partners a matter of course for Nicola Spaldin. need to be combined in reality – in Her research group includes materials A matchmaker for difficult other words, in an experiment. “Pre- scientists, physicists, chemists and couples viously, I always had to look for some- one mathematician. And she loves to “We have to look in two completely one who was willing to create the delve deep into things that interest different areas of the periodic table if material in the lab. Now we’ll be able her: “I’m always drawn to whatever I we want to marry these properties.” to do it ourselves”, Spaldin beams. Af- find exciting.” She recently won the And this means that the atoms to be ter all, for the first time she will have Max Rössler Prize (see box) for her combined tend to be foreign by na- her own specialised lab at her dis- work. She plans to use the prize ture. “We have to come up with unu- posal here at ETH Zurich. The boxes money as a “rapid response fund to sual methods to pair up the right part- of equipment have just arrived. She is enable us to head in new directions ners”, says Spaldin. delighted with this – and the fact that spontaneously if something particu- First of all, it is important to under- she will have plenty of freedom to fo- larly interests us.” ■ stand the exact properties and bond- cus on basic research at ETH Zurich. ing patterns of potential partners be- “We mustn’t forget that we are invent- fore a partnership can even be ing materials that have never existed Max Rössler Prize considered. Oxides, says Nicola Spal- before”, she says. Before the lab ex- In 2007 the mathematician and ETH Zurich din, have extremely appealing charac- periments, no one can say for sure graduate Dr Max Rössler donated CHF 10 teristics. Their bonds are neither too whether they will actually behave in million to the ETH Zurich Foundation. The ionic nor too covalent, as they say in reality exactly how the scientists had prize is intended to honour and encourage chemistry circles. And they react eas- hoped, based on their theoretical particularly promising young ETH Zurich pro- ily to electrical or magnetic fields. considerations and computer simula- fessors and includes CHF 200,000 in prize Consequently, they are Spaldin’s pre- tions. After all, as the saying goes, the money. This year, it was awarded for the ferred candidates for difficult mag- whole is greater than the sum of its fourth time. netic partners. However, before they parts, and chemistry is no exception. The British scientist Nicola Spaldin had al- get a reality shock, the scientists check This also concerns extremely fun- ready won many awards before joining ETH on the computer whether the con- damental questions: “We have a fairly Zurich in 2011. At the beginning of 2012, she tender qualifies for a partnership and accurate idea of how a single electron was also awarded a research grant from the will produce useful results. Not infre- behaves and why, or even how two European Research Council for her promising quently, the computer operations electrons react. But why, when great research. this entails are so complicated that a numbers of them meet in a solid body, supercomputer needs to be brought do electrons interact in such a way as www.ethz-foundation.ch ➔ in. In doing so, it is not a matter of to make exotic properties like super- www.globe.ethz.ch/spaldin_EN ➔ checking through thousands of mate- conductivity or new kinds of magnet- rial combinations, as with so-called ism possible? We still have no idea”, screening methods; no, Nicola Spal- says Spaldin. Together with high- din and her team prefer to focus on energy physicists, she is currently a precise individual understanding designing magnetoelectric materials rather than chemical speed-dating. that can help research the fundamen- “We only test our understanding with tal properties of electrons. And an- a computer simulation when we are other of her test materials could even

39 No 3, September 2012

Inside

Accessing deep geothermics is a tricky business, as a pilot project near Basel demonstrated a few years ago. If there are no aquiferous layers in the subsoil, the heat deep down cannot be used routinely with today’s technology.

Strategic initiative Using the Earth’s heat

Felix Würsten cluding the USA, but also Indonesia, Previous attempts to use deep geo- In theory, deep geothermics New Zealand, Iceland and Italy. thermics in Switzerland, however, could make a key contribution were not particularly encouraging. to our future energy supply. No big breakthrough There was a pilot project in Basel in Whether this potential can also In Switzerland there is nothing of the which the hot dry rock process was to be exploited in practice, how- sort yet. Admittedly, near-surface geo- be used to turn heat from non-aquifer- ever, remains to be seen. With thermal heat supplies numerous ous rocks into electricity, but it had to two new professorships, ETH buildings with heat and warm water be abandoned. When the under- Zurich is looking to help this today. However, whether the energy ground rock had to be loosened to in- technology make a break- from the earth’s interior can be used crease permeability, it caused palpable through. to generate larger amounts of electri- shocks on the earth’s surface. And in city is still unclear. Unlike the afore- Zurich the drilling in a pilot project at The heat resources inside the earth are mentioned countries, where active Triemli Hospital did not yield as much thought to be almost inexhaustible. volcanoes conduct the heat near to hot water as had originally been No wonder that geothermics is re- the earth’s surface, in Switzerland the hoped. Only in St. Gallen do the pros- garded as one of the most promising heat source has to be accessed at a pects look somewhat rosier: the pro- options for our future energy supply. depth of three to six kilometres. Only ject managers there are hopeful that In a number of countries, subterra- down there are the rocks hot enough the forthcoming deep drilling will nean heat has already long been used for power production to make eco- produce sufficient hot water to gener- to generate electricity and warmth, in- nomic sense. ate electricity and heat.

40 This would enable an especially that can make a contribution in one when the rock is loosened”, explains favourable geological situation in way or another. Besides earth scien- Giardini. “We have to reach a point Eastern Switzerland to be exploited tists, scientists from the fields of pro- where we can gauge a project’s pros- that has also triggered a veritable geo- cess engineering and energy technol- pects of success fairly reliably before thermics boom in Bavaria. ogy also deal with geothermics. And the construction work gets underway. In the medium to long term, how- finally there are also professors at ETH This is the only way investors can ever, the question is not whether Zurich addressing issues of risk financ- make a reliable risk assessment.” deep geothermics is actually viable for ing and the social acceptance of this power generation, but rather whether energy form.” How reliable are the forecasts? it is capable of making a relevant con- However, the capacities of these Besides geological issues, technical as- tribution to the Swiss power supply – professorships are insufficient – of pects also need to be clarified. The oil or, as Domenico Giardini, a professor that Giardini is convinced, for none of and gas industries already have tech- of seismology and geodynamics at them has geothermics at the top of nologies for drilling into rock at great ETH Zurich, succinctly puts it: “Can the agenda.“ So far, ETH Zurich hasn’t depths and breaking it up. However, deep geothermics replace a nuclear really exploited its potential to the unlike oil and gas drilling, geothermal power station?” full”, he explains. Consequently, the drillings are not conducted away from Since the nuclear disaster in Fuku- university has now launched a new civilisation, but close to towns to en- shima and the nuclear phase-out strategic initiative with a view to es- able the residual heat to be utilised. decided by the Federal Council and tablishing two new professorships Therefore, the technologies now have Parliament, the issue has become more very quickly thanks to support from to be refined in such a way that they pressing. After all, deep geothermics private sponsors. One of the new pro- no longer trigger any noticeable trem- is one of the energy forms in which fessorships at the Department of ors at the Earth’s surface. Last but not the Federal Council has placed great Earth Sciences will focus on accessing least, the costs need to be reduced hopes in its new Energy Strategy 2050. deep heat sources, while the other that are incurred while exploring pos- And the “Action plan for coordinated will examine issues of technology de- sible locations, accessing the heat res- energy research in Switzerland” (Ak- velopment at the Department of Me- ervoirs through drilling and running tionsplan koordinierte Energie for schung chanical and Process Engineering. the plants. Schweiz) published by the interdepart- Talking to Giardini, it soon becomes “All current energy forecasts predict mental workgroup Energy in April clear that there is no shortage of con- a rapid rise in deep geothermics in 2012 also banks on geothermal energy. crete research topics. “The main prob- the years to come”, explains Giardini. Not only does the workgroup propose lem is that no deep geothermal plant “Now we have to show whether these a national support programme for has ever produced electricity over ex- prognoses are actually realistic and, if deep geothermics; it also recommends tended periods of time”, he explains. so, which technological prerequisites coordinating future research in a na- “The pilot project in Soultz-sous-Forêts need to be fulfilled.” ■ tional competence centre. (Alsace), which is also based on the hot dry rock process, is running satis- Insufficient capacity factorily. However, it only produces For Giardini it is also clear that a na- an electrical output of about one meg- tionally coordinated effort is now re- awatt. If deep geothermics is really go- quired and that the state should thus ing to make a relevant contribution to be involved more closely. “The previ- the power supply, we need plants ous pilot projects were primarily local with an electrical output of at least initiatives”, he explains. “If we want to twenty to fifty megawatts.” achieve our ambitious goals in twenty How a big enough reservoir for to thirty years, such isolated projects such plants can be created under- will not be enough.” For Giardini, it ground and managed for decades, goes without saying that ETH Zurich however, is still largely unclear. “We should assume a leading role here: need to have a better understanding of “We have a series of professorships what actually happens deep down

41 No 3, September 2012

Inside

similar fields. While the Misrock Foundation was only able to fund smaller projects in its early days, after the sale of assets from the portfolio in 2008 it became involved in larger pro- jects. The launch of the D-BSSE in 2007 came just at the right time: only three years after ETH Zurich had moved into its new location in Basel, the con- tract for start-up funding for a profes- ETH Zurich President Ralph Eichler and Jean-Marc Joerin, President of the Misrock Foundation, sorship at ETH Zurich was signed and inaugurate the S. Leslie Misrock Lecture Hall in the D-BSSE. the appointment procedure initiated. Then, in November 2011, the ETH Donations Board appointed Sai T. Reddy as a ten- ure-track assistant professor of biomo- lecular engineering at the D-BSSE. Giving a boost This internationally renowned re- searcher from the University of Colo- Roland Baumann must make sense for both sides. The rado in Boulder (USA) is regarded as Thanks to donations from private companies expect new, fundamental one of the co-founders of systems im- donors, ETH Zurich has been knowledge and novel processes in munology as a research field. ■ able to set up various new pro- their particular fields. At the same fessorships very quickly in re- time, ETH Zurich plays a major role in cent years. One topic that keeps the education of people who will hold Research freedom arising as a result of these con- positions of responsibility in compa- The ETH Zurich Foundation plays a pivotal tributions is the university’s re- nies in the future. For us, it is crucial role in research freedom for donations to ETH search freedom. for a new professorship to fit the stra- Zurich. As an independent, non-profit foun- tegic focus. This weighing of interests dation, it conducts negotiations with poten- In the last decade, ETH Zurich has es- already takes place during the initial tial partners and, together with ETH Zurich, is tablished around 100 additional pro- talks with potential donors.” the joint contracting partner for the donors. fessorships and thus set the course for The issue of research freedom is It provides the university with funds for new the future. Around a fifth of these less pronounced in the case of contri- professorships. ETH Zurich then conducts its professorships was established quickly butions from foundations and pri- ordinary appointment procedure with checks because the university was able to vate individuals. But here, too, it is and balances: it appoints a commission, to count on the support of donors. Vari- all about reconciling the concerns of which ETH Zurich professors in the field and ous companies and organisations the contracting partners. One exam- experts from other universities and industry helped to fund a professorship for five ple of this is the start-up funding of belong. or ten years with substantial dona- the Biomolecular Engineering Chair The commission evaluates the applications tions to the ETH Zurich Foundation. at the Department of Biosystems Sci- and draws up a recommendation for the The latest examples are the “Sustaina- ence (D-BSSE) in Basel by the foun- President of ETH Zurich, who conducts the ble Building” professorship supported dation of S. Leslie Misrock, who negotiations. If these go well, he puts for- by Holcim and the professorship in passed away in 2001. This chemist ward a motion to the ETH Board to appoint the field of information security, in and patent attorney from New York the new professor. which Swisscom is involved. was so impressed by the research lo- It is pivotal that these contribu- cation on the elbow of the Rhine that www.ethz-foundation.ch ➔ tions do not affect ETH Zurich’s he established his foundation there www.facultyaffairs.ethz.ch/berufungen/ research freedom, as ETH President in 1981. It supports research in mo- index_EN ➔ Ralph Eichler stresses: “A donation lecular biology, biotechnology and

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43 No 3, September 2012

Connected

Scientifica 2012 Health meets with interest This year’s Scientifica on the topic of “Health” attracted huge crowds of visitors to ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich. Roughly 21,000 visitors attended the 50 exhibition stands and 40 brief lectures where they were inspired by the scientists’ enthusiasm for re- search. The visitors included cantonal govern- ment councillor Thomas Heiniger and city councillor Claudia Nielsen, who were given a guided tour of the exhibition by Prorector Daniel Wyler from the University of Zurich (be- low left, centre). A humorous performance by cabaret artist Lorenz Keiser (below right) provided plenty of laughs for the guests at the opening event.

Thanksgiving at ETH Zurich Reaching for the Stars Under the motto “Reaching for the Stars”, keynote speaker Claude Nicollier – an astronaut, pilot and lecturer in aerospace technology at EPFL and ETH Zurich – in- vited the roughly 130 guests at this year’s mid-June “Thanksgiving” on a journey through space. This annual event is an op- portunity for ETH Zurich to thank its do- nors for their support. ETH Zurich’s Max Rössler Prize was awarded for the fourth time at the Thanksgiving event. This year’s prize was won by Nicola Spaldin (see page 38).

44 CSCS inauguration New building for fast computers The new CSCS (Centro Svizzero di Calcolo Scientifico) building was opened in Lugano-Cornaredo at the end of August in the presence of Federal Councillor Alain Berset (centre), President of the ETH Board Fritz Schiesser (left) and President of ETH Zurich Ralph Eichler (right). This new high-performance computer centre, which is one of the most energy-efficient in the world, provides ideal conditions for Switzer- land to hold its own among the global high-performance computer élite in the long term.

Water talk “Water is a human right” Unless the human race can come up with some- thing soon, its drinking water will run out before oil does. With this pointed statement at the “Water talk” in mid-June, Nestlé President Peter Brabeck-Letmathe advocated a more sensible approach to water as a resource. Over 500 guests attended the third edition of “ETH Talks”, a series of events organised by the coordination centre “ETH Sustainability”.

45 No 3, September 2012

Profile

ETH Zurich alumnus Christoph Eck From drones to D flat

Christine Heidemann

ETH Zurich alumnus Christoph Eck has got his feet ics. On the other hand, I love working with the band. For firmly on the ground. But he’s passionate about me, the latter offers a human component that is often miss- reaching for the skies – whether it’s scaling dizzy ing in the technical work I do.” heights as the long-standing director of ETH Christoph Eck explains that the decision to study elec- Zurich’s Big Band, or working with his helicopter trical engineering in Karlsruhe and then in Bremen in the drones as the head of “Aeroscout”, an ETH north of Germany was not an easy one. “While I was at Zurich spin-off. school, I took trumpet, piano and double bass lessons for a long time because I really wanted to do something related Although he is only 43, for long-serving staff at ETH Zurich, to music.” But now he is happy that he changed his mind: Christoph Eck has already been around as long as they can “This way, I can play music without any constraints.” remember. After all, he has been head of ETH Zurich’s Big Band for nearly 20 years now and has already performed Tuesday is rehearsal day with the band at almost all of the major events at the uni- But one evening in the week is blocked in his appoint- versity – from doctoral celebrations and congresses to No- ments diary for almost the entire year. Every Tuesday at 7 bel Prize celebrations and openings of new institutes and p.m. the band rehearses, turning the largest seminar room buildings. Christoph Eck and his 20 musicians are also on floor H of ETH Zurich’s machine laboratory into a con- sought after as ambassadors for ETH Zurich. In 2011, for cert hall. For the past 16 years, musicians have been using example, the band toured for ten days through Brazil, en- the room to perfect their pieces, try out new ideas and plan tertaining partner universities and various Swiss institu- projects, CDs and concerts. Or, like just now, to plan the tions with their jazz grooves. 20th anniversary of the band which is coming up next year. But Christoph Eck’s close links to ETH Zurich extend “But recently we found out that we won’t be able to re- beyond his music. After his postgraduate, doctoral and hearse there regularly any longer”, says Christoph Eck. The postdoctoral studies in Zurich, German-born Eck founded official explanation given was that the building is to be two spin-offs that were based on his research at what was redeveloped and that no alternative rehearsal room was then the Measurement and Control Laboratory (IMRT). available. “Personally I was very disappointed by the news”, Both of these companies represent the other side of Chris- the musician admits. After almost 20 years with the Big toph Eck, namely the electrical engineer and expert for Band, he didn’t expect them suddenly to be put out on the helicopter drones. These are unmanned helicopters that street, as it were. Christoph Eck tells of how he has put his weigh around 75 kg and have an in-built autopilot. They lifeblood into his work with the band, without any com- navigate through the skies independently, for example to pensation or payment in return. “It is hard to imagine that search for people trapped in landslides or avalanches, to this would happen to a university orchestra anywhere else.” inspect high-voltage wires or to map landscapes in 3D. “On Together with Dieter Wüest from the ETH Rectorate, he the one hand, I am fascinated by dynamics and mathemat- has now found a temporary solution for most of the time.

46 For Christoph Eck, music provides a “fantastic release.” Whenever the ­electrical engineer finds the time, he reaches for his trumpet. But in ­particular, he beats time for the ETH Big Band, whose 20th anniversary he will be celebrating next year.

47 No 3, September 2012

Profile

Christoph Eck is not one to give up easily. After all, there each other, the flight path and the camera guidance have to was a similar situation in the early days of the band. At be perfectly combined”, explains Eck. And that, according that time, in 1993, the only band at ETH Zurich was the to Eck, is a “complex matter” and the greatest challenge cur- Polyband. “But I didn’t really feel at home musically in the rently facing the four employees who make up the Aero- band.” And because this engineer had already successfully scout team. founded a big band at the University of Bremen, he de- cided to do the same in Zurich. It didn’t take long to get Reliable organ transport the musicians together, but finding a rehearsal room was The 43-year-old tells us that it would be fantastic if drones difficult even back then. Flexibility was the order of the could one day fly through the skies as reliably as manned day: “We once rehearsed in the entrance hall to the Physics helicopters. Then they could also act as messengers, for Building on the Hönggerberg campus, and another time example, flying organs from one hospital to another. How- we practised in a church hall”, Eck recalls. ever, to do this they will have to become “more intelli- He describes music as providing a “fantastic release”, gent”, meaning that they will have to be able to navigate even though he can only devote a small portion of his time even more reliably in order to get out of the path of other to it. The former ETH Zurich student spends the rest of his flying objects in good time and make emergency landings time either teaching as a part-time lecturer for control if necessary, for example in the event of bad weather. When asked about the characteristics that make him who he is, both a successful engineer and a musician, Chris- “It would be fantastic if drones toph Eck explains: “I am very organised and structured.” To could one day fly as reliably as the question of whether he is a strict band leader, he replies that his musicians would have to answer that. Of course, he manned helicopters.” says, there are always phases in which everyone has to be Christoph Eck highly focused, for example in the run-up to a concert or a tour. And ultimately, the band wants to reach and maintain a certain level. But the head of the band assures us that on technology at Lucerne University for Applied Sciences and the whole the relationship between the musicians is ex- Arts or in his spin-off company “Aeroscout.” tremely friendly and supportive. And finding new people The company was formed in 2005 from “weControl”, a to join the band is never a problem: “ There are always new company founded by Christoph Eck together with three and talented people coming along.” In his private time, other doctoral students at ETH Zurich four years previously. however, Christoph Eck now only rarely has the chance to “weControl” still exists today and still markets autopilots, play music. After all, he also has a family and likes to spend while Aeroscout integrates the autopilots directly in the as much time with them as possible. “But if I am not too helicopters, i.e. it provides complete drones. These are used tired by the time the children have gone to bed, I reach for solely for non-military purposes and for research. One high- my trumpet and play – using a mute of course!” ■ profile example of their use was after a mine collapsed in eastern Turkey in February 2011. At the time, Christoph Eck and his team travelled to the site to search for buried vehi- About Christoph Eck cles using his helicopters. Christoph Eck studied electrical engineering at Karlsruhe Technical Univer- One major future area of application for the helicopters sity and at the University of Bremen. In the autumn of 1993 he switched to will involve inspection work on high-voltage wires. Per- ETH Zurich, where he completed a postgraduate course in information forming this kind of work with manned helicopters is either technology and, in 1996, a doctorate at what was then the Measurement too dangerous or not possible on account of regional cir- and Control Laboratory (IMRT). In 2001 he founded the ETH Zurich spin- cumstances. For this reason, the process is being automated. off “weControl” along with three other postdoctoral students at ETH Zurich. The drones should be able to find their way along the wires In 2005 this gave rise to the spin-off “Aeroscout”, which he has since man- independently using the images recorded via their inte- aged as CEO. The 43-year-old also lectures part-time in control technology grated cameras. They have to choose their flight path such at Lucerne University for Applied Sciences and Arts. In his free time, Chris- that they can inspect the wires from all sides and detect toph Eck has led ETH Zurich’s Big Band since 1993. Next year the band will even the tiniest amounts of damage. “Because both the hel- celebrate its 20th anniversary. icopter and the camera move and turn independently of

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49 No 3, September 2012

Anno

KIKRI ETH Zentrum crèche officially opened the doors of its new-look building at Clausiusstrasse 72 on 2 April 2012.

1972 One big family

Alice Werner christened KIKRI and run as an independent, grassroots, dem- ETH Zurich’s first crèche is celebrating its fortieth ocratic parents’ association. It is first based in an ETH Zurich birthday this year. What emerged out of the 1968 building on the Zürichberg. Here, at Hochstrasse 60, on a movement as a grassroots, democratic parents’ floor the students have renovated themselves, 25 toddlers association has blossomed into a professionally run and babies can now be supervised under the watchful eyes of business today. This year, KIKRI moved into a two kindergarten teachers and a series of apprentices and new, state-of-the-art building. trainees. One of the first students to take advantage of the service was Rita Marusic. Back then, the pharmaceutical stu- It is 1972. Students and women throughout Europe are dent told the newspaper “Züriwoche” that under no circum- caught up in a spirit of change. In Switzerland, however, stances did she want to interrupt or drop out of her degree, the situation of women in society is still heavily dominated so she started looking for infrastructural support to continue by tradition. Only one year earlier, Switzerland became her academic education. one of the last countries in Europe to grant its female pop- ulation full civil rights and give them the right to vote. Crises and further development Young working women who leave their children at crèches In the early days, the founders of KIKRI propagate an anti- still face criticism in society, as they are accused of being authoritarian style of supervision, which they also back up bad mothers. At the same time, support services for work- with educational theory. The atmosphere is free and fre- ing mums are few and far between. quently wild. However, ideological principles soon make way for a pedagogical concept that is geared more towards A pioneering, emancipatory feat the daily experiences of the parents and supervisors. For Consequently, it has to be viewed as a pioneering achieve- instance, the independence and self-confidence of the chil- ment that in this same year a group of students from ETH dren are to be encouraged by accepting them as individu- Zurich – budding architects with leftist leanings – opens a als and taking them seriously. The philosophy is: as much crèche for the children of ETH Zurich members. It is one of freedom as possible, and as little criticism as necessary. the first crèches ever at a Swiss university. A woman’s right to In 1977 KIKRI moves into an old house with a wonder- work and the reconciliation of career and family are issues ful garden at Clausiusstrasse 72, near ETH Zurich’s main especially close to the founders’ hearts. The day centre is building. In this old villa with its enchanted garden, the

50 children can play to their hearts’ content. The main attrac- mines the contributions based on a social tier system ac- tion is an old circus caravan. The children often go home cording to the income of the parents or legal guardians. with bags of wet clothes – filthy and exhausted but happy Today, KIKRI is celebrating its fortieth birthday in a new from playing in the mud they’ve made. building at its old address, and now employs 19 profes- In 1979 the future of KIKRI hangs in the balance due to sional staff. However, the active involvement of parents strict cost-cutting measures introduced by the federal gov- continues to be a key element of its pedagogical concept. ernment. Max Knus, now an emeritus professor of mathe- As the crèche’s current head, Katrin Imholz, proudly says: matics and ombudsman of ETH Zurich since 2011, was “We’re one big family.” One that sticks together. Even to- president of the crèche in the late 1970s. He stresses that day, after all these years, Max Knus is still friends with ETH Zurich’s CFO at the time did a sterling job of champi- parents of his KIKRI generation. ■ oning the interests of KIKRI on the Executive Board. Con- sequently, the university agrees to cover a proportion of the wage payments, above and beyond its commitment to the infrastructure. The rest is funded via parent contribu- tions.

Active parents are the bedrock The parents have been included in the conception and run- ning of the centre from day one. The idea is to give the children a sense of security and create a second home from home. And since fathers are also involved, the youngsters are set an example of how naturally traditional gender roles can be swapped around. Max Knus recalls the time when his daughter was a KIKRI child: “At lunchtime, when it was time for the staff to have a break, parents would take it in turns to watch the children.” The fact that parents are responsible for the company and help out at the crèche (a certain degree of assistance is still obligatory to this day) is what really sets KIKRI apart from municipal enterprises. The second financial crisis comes in 1982. Once again, Villa Villekulla: this old house in Clausiusstrasse has been home to KIKRI ETH Zurich comes to the rescue, this time with material ETH Zentrum since 1977. contributions. In addition, the membership fees for par- ents are increased and the status of preschool support rein- forced within the educational concept. This is with a view to opening KIKRI up to kindergarten children. By 1992 the situation has improved to such an extent that a crèche management is introduced and the number of staff in- creased – KIKRI is now a professional operation. The way people think and act in society and at the university has undergone a sea change. Day care for working parents is now regarded less as a cost factor and far more as an invest- ment, and as an opportunity for the active advancement of women. A new material basis opens up for ETH Zurich’s crèche six years later. On 31 March 1998, ETH Zurich and the Parents’ Association sign a contract with the City of Zurich, which now becomes a second subsidy provider. In return for the 28 subsidised crèche places, KIKRI introduces the The dawn of a new era: student banners above Clausiusstrasse at the end municipal parental contribution regulation, which deter- of 1971.

51 No 3, September 2012

Alumni life

Stadelmann with visible pride. “We were delighted with the huge re- sponse, as the lectures are also an im- portant promotional opportunity for us to draw attention to our group.”

Establishing the group as a brand Although mathematics and physics are among the more traditional sub- jects at ETH Zurich, there has only been a specialist alumni group for these two disciplines since 2010. The demand seems to be great: 350 alumni have already joined, along with around 350 new graduates who are automatically given free membership for one year upon completing their degrees. Together with his Board members, Stadelmann works extremely hard to convince as many graduates as possi- ble to join. After all, this is the only way to develop a network that is as stable as possible and is able to help its members in their day-to-day work on the one hand and to support ETH Zu- As the president of the Movement Sciences alumni group, Denise Schmid wants to demonstrate to rich actively on the other. “For us, the the outside world the expertise that is imparted during the degree course. contacts with the students are espe- cially important”, says Stadelmann. Alumni groups For instance, the alumni sponsor the VMP student association’s traditional fondue dinner and attend the master’s Young and dynamic graduation ceremonies of the two de- partments. Felix Würsten troversial topics that the alumni group The Math Phys group heralds a ETH Alumni has really boomed Math Phys tackles at its annual lectures. new generation of alumni groups that in recent years: thanks to a series The choice of provocative themes is no are geared more towards an exchange of new alumni groups, the alumni coincidence: “We would like to demon- of ideas and experiences within a sub- family has gotten bigger and strate that mathematics and physics are ject and less towards social get-to- bigger. As “Math Phys Alumni” relevant to the here and now”, explains gethers. “We also have social events, and “Alumni Movement Sciences” Michael Stadelmann. of course, such as regular informal illustrate, these groups have As the president of the group, he is meets or the annual wine tasting in been extremely busy. closely involved in organising the next the Department of Mathematics”, lecture at the beginning of November, says Stadelmann. “But we also want First the financial crisis, now the ques- when the speakers will also include ETH to achieve something instead of just tions surrounding the safety of atomic Zurich professor Horst Prasser. “Last having fun. That’s why we want to energy – these are just some of the con- time, we had over 140 guests”, reports establish Math Phys as a brand with

52 which as many alumni as possible can while, the situation has markedly im- identify.” proved, probably due in no small part For this young group, the fact that to the efforts of the alumni group. it could band together relatively in- “We convey the strengths of the de- formally under the umbrella of ETH gree to the outside world to smooth Alumni was a major advantage. “This the transition into professional life for keeps red tape to a minimum”, ex- new graduates”, explains Schmid. “For plains Stadelmann. The Alumni Office example, a year ago we teamed up actively supports the Board in its with the department and ETH Zurich’s work. “It helps us personnel-wise Career Centre to issue a careers bro- with major events, organises name chure.” Greetings from the President tags, posts invitations and, if need be, The alumni group currently has even produces flyers. And it takes around 300 members. And it would Dear ETH Zurich care of our address management for like to keep on growing: “We have alumni us, which is extremely time-consum- also invited many alumni who aren’t ing”, says Stadelmann. “That might yet members to the celebration at the Sometimes the terms “former stu- not sound all that spectacular, but it Scientifica on 31 August to mark ten dents” and “alumni” are still under- certainly makes our voluntary com- years of the movement sciences de- stood differently. However, it is very mitment so much easier.” gree”, explains Schmid. After all, much straightforward, really: all graduates like the Math Phys group, Alumni of ETH Zurich are ETH Zurich alumni, A sense of appreciation Movement Sciences is finding it hard irrespective of whether they are The Movement Sciences group, to recruit new members from the members of ETH Alumni or not. founded in 2008, also benefits from older semesters. “We would love to ETH Alumni’s wide range of ser- these services. “The collaboration welcome more graduates from the vices, the relationships between with the Alumni Office works like earlier movement and sports science graduates and their former university, clockwork”, confirms President Den- degree. After all, precisely these the international alumni network ise Schmid. “And we are delighted to alumni have extensive hands-on expe- and the advantages of being a mem- feel that our dedication is appreciated rience out in the workplace and they ber of the ETH Alumni Association – by ETH Zurich.” would make interesting contacts for all these topics are featured in our Like the other groups, Alumni our younger members.” ■ brochure “Our network, role and mis- Movement Sciences organises regular sion”, which you can find on our events. Besides company visits and www.alumni.ethz.ch/association/topic_ website or obtain free of charge from social events, it also holds a careers groups/MathPhysAlumni ➔ the Alumni Office (info@alumni. session every March where four www.bewegungswissenschaften.ch/bws/ ethz.ch) in German or English. alumni talk about their work. “We’re Home.html ➔ Happy reading! also planning additional events geared Dr. Eduard M. Brunner more towards longstanding alumni”, President of the ETH Alumni Association explains Schmid. “We held one in the spring, for instance, where members could learn how to communicate ef- fectively.” One of the group’s main activities involves drawing the attention of the professional world to movement sci- ences as a subject. “In the beginning, Vacancies for ETH-Zurich graduates we found that the companies didn’t www1.ethz.ch/career/index_ really know what profile the gradu- EN ➔ ates could bring to the table.” Mean-

53 No 3, September 2012

Alumni life

Agenda

Exhibitions

Crossing the Greenland Ice – 100 Years of Swiss Science in Greenland Like the Chinese city of Shenzen, many metropolises are currently undergoing rapid change. The next issue of Treffpunkt Science City reveals what this development means. In 1912 a four-man team from Swit- zerland crossed Greenland’s ice sheet on a 700-kilometre trek – even by today’s standards, an extraordinary, Music and dance Treffpunkt pioneering feat. Until 21 October 2012 Polyball Science City FocusTerra, Sonneggstrasse 5, Zurich Scheherazade The city 1000 stories and one night Fossil Art In the beginning, there was the city. 1 December 2012 An exhibition to look at and touch ETH Zurich Main Building It is regarded as the cradle of human 19 November 2012 – 12 May 2013 ➔ civilisation and culture. However, the FocusTerra, Sonneggstrasse 5, Zurich www.polyball.ch city’s success story is becoming a prob- www.focusterra.ethz.ch/index_EN ➔ lem. Today, over half of the world’s Ian Anüll – Editions Alumni population already lives in cities and by the year 2050, seventy percent 22 August – 19 October 2012 Business Events Between the Lines – Graphics of humankind will be living in urban Series by Louise Bourgeois Dr David W. Syz areas. The world is turning into a city. 7 November 2012 – 18 January 2013 VR President of the Board of How can this development be planned Graphics collection Huber+Suhner and controlled? How can mega-cities ETH Zurich Main Building, E53 20 November 2012 be made people-friendly? How can Eu- rope’s old cities be transformed into Wohnort Campus Networking aperitif from 5:30 pm, sustainable living environments? And Student accommodation projects event begins at 6:45 pm, what should the city of the future for the Hönggerberg and Irchel ETH Zurich Main Building, Dozentenfoyer look like? Urban planners, architects, Until 8 November 2012 Register at: ARchENA, HIL Building, www.alumni.ethz.ch/events/business_ spatial planners, engineers and social ETH Hönggerberg events/anmeldung ➔ scientists show how they are tackling 14 November - 5 December 2012 these issues. University Zurich, Lichthof Alumniball 2012 21 October – 2 December 2012 ETH Zurich, Hönggerberg and Zentrum Arch_Tec_Lab The traditional Alumni Ball is al- Detailed programme available at: A house for the Institute of ready being held for the seventh Techno logy in Architecture time this autumn – this year with a www.ethz.ch/news/treffpunkt/ veranstaltungen/index_EN ➔ 26 September – 19 October 2012, 007 theme! This pulsating party Mo. –Fr. 11 am – 3 pm Freight container, kicks off on 6 October 2012 HIL Building, ETH Hönggerberg at 6:00 pm in the Dolder Grand Hotel Zurich.

www.alumni.ethz.ch/events ➔

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