Thorsten Holz

Thorsten Holz is a Professor and Head of the Chair for System Security at Ruhr-University Bochum's Faculty of Computer Science. His research team focuses on critical areas of cybersecurity including binary analysis, automated vulnerability discovery (fuzzing), embedded systems security, and privacy compliance (GDPR).

Research Focus: His work spans:

• Binary analysis & reverse engineering techniques
• Software security with emphasis on fuzzing and automated vulnerability assessment
• Security of embedded/IoT systems
• Privacy mechanisms and GDPR implementation
• Network and internet security protocols

Publication Trends: Recent works (2024-2025) demonstrate strong emphasis on:

• Advanced fuzzing methodologies for software/hardware systems
• Security of satellite and aerospace systems
• Detection of AI-generated media (deepfakes) and LLM vulnerabilities
• Trusted execution environments (TEEs) and memory corruption defenses
• Social media/platform security abuses

He leads a research group developing cutting-edge tools for vulnerability discovery and security validation, with significant real-world impact in both academic and industry domains.