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Niki KilbertusView profile

Assistant Professor

• Machine Learning
• Causal Inference
• Ethics in AI
• +5 more

Prof. Niki Kilbertus is an Assistant Professor at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in the Department of Informatics, and Group Leader at Helmholtz AI. His research focuses on causal machine learning, ethical AI systems, and applications in healthcare, climate science, and dynamical systems. He earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge (2020) and has held positions at DeepMind, Google, and Amazon during his studies. His research interests include causal discovery, fairness in AI, counterfactual reasoning, and integrating physics-based constraints into neural networks. Key contributions include foundational work on fair machine learning (e.g., avoiding discrimination through causal models) and developing methods for causal inference in complex systems like healthcare and climate modeling. Recent work emphasizes generative models for causal interventions, robust treatment effect estimation, and physically consistent neural differential equations. He leads a large interdisciplinary group with over 20 students and postdocs working on projects funded by Helmholtz Association, ERC, and industry collaborations. Notable awards include the Leopoldina Prize for Young Scientists (2024) and membership in the Junge Akademie. His lab maintains active partnerships with ELLIS, MCML, and the Zuse Institute Berlin.

Shweta ShindeView profile

Assistant Professor

• Trusted Computing
• System Security
• Hardware Security
• +4 more

Shweta Shinde is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich where she leads the Secure & Trustworthy Systems (SECTRS) research group. She is also a member of the Institute of Information Security and the ZISC Center at ETH Zurich. Her work bridges theoretical foundations with practical implementations in hardware and system security. Dr. Shinde's research focuses on the intersection of trusted computing, system security, and program analysis. Her group investigates both foundational aspects of security to protect phones, servers, and accelerators, as well as practical aspects of realizing these solutions through large-scale system building. Her work spans hardware security primitives, trusted execution environments, confidential computing, and secure system design across multiple platforms including mobile devices, cloud infrastructure, and blockchain systems. Her publication record demonstrates significant impact in the field, with numerous papers in top security venues including IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, CCS, and NDSS. Her research has uncovered critical vulnerabilities in major hardware security technologies like Intel SGX and AMD SEV-SNP while also proposing novel frameworks for building more secure systems. The work spans multiple domains including hardware security, cloud security, mobile security, and blockchain security, with a consistent thread of identifying and addressing fundamental security challenges in trusted computing. Among her notable achievements are multiple best paper awards including at SysTEX 2025 and nominations at DATE 2025, a Distinguished Paper Award at IEEE S&P 2024, and recognition as a Most Innovative Research Pwnie Award Nominee in 2024. Her work on WeSee received particular attention for breaking AMD SEV-SNP through novel interrupt-based attacks. Dr. Shinde actively mentors PhD students including Mark Kuhne, Supraja Sridhara, Mélisande Zonta-Roudes, Benedict Schlüter, Andrin Bertschi, and others. She teaches courses on Systems Security, Information Security Lab, Seminar on Systems Security, and Current Topics in Information Security at ETH Zurich. Her service to the community includes extensive program committee work for major security conferences including Oakland (S&P), NDSS, USENIX Security, and CCS, where she has served as track co-chair and program co-chair for several workshops.

Nils FleischhackerView profile

Assistant Professor

• Cryptography
• Theoretical Computer Science
• Zero-Knowledge Proofs
• +5 more

Nils Fleischhacker is an Assistant Professor for Cryptography at Ruhr University Bochum, where he leads the Theoretical Cryptography group within the Faculty of Computer Science. His research focuses on foundational aspects of cryptography with particular emphasis on zero-knowledge proofs, digital signatures, and secure computation. Prior to joining Ruhr University, he held postdoctoral positions at Johns Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Fleischhacker received his PhD in Computer Science from Saarland University in February 2017, advised by Dominique Schröder. During his doctoral studies, he was a research intern at Microsoft Research with Chris Brzuska and a research visitor at the University of Maryland, College Park with Jonathan Katz and Dana Dachman-Soled. His research spans theoretical cryptography with significant contributions to zero-knowledge proofs, multi-signature schemes, property-preserving hash functions, and security proofs for cryptographic primitives. Fleischhacker's work often addresses fundamental questions about the limits and possibilities of cryptographic constructions, with particular attention to black-box separations and lower bounds. His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on lattice-based cryptography and post-quantum secure protocols. Fleischhacker's publications over the past five years reveal a consistent research trajectory focused on improving the efficiency and security of cryptographic primitives, with particular emphasis on signature schemes, zero-knowledge protocols, and secure computation frameworks. His work frequently appears in top-tier cryptography venues including CRYPTO, EUROCRYPT, and CCS. Dr. Fleischhacker actively mentors PhD students, with numerous successful graduations spanning from 2010 to 2024. His former PhD students include Önder Askin (2024), Floyd Zweydinger (2023), and Lars Schlieper (2022), among others. His research is supported through various academic channels and collaborations. He is affiliated with several prominent research organizations including the Horst Görtz Institute (HGI) for Information Security, the DFG Excellence Cluster CASA, the EU Marie Curie Network QSI, and the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR). These affiliations provide a strong institutional framework for his theoretical cryptography research.

• Embedded Security
• Cryptography
• Hardware Security
• +5 more

Christof Paar is a Professor of Embedded Security at Ruhr University Bochum's Faculty of Computer Science. His work focuses on hardware security, cryptography, and embedded systems security. He leads the Embedded Security Group within the CASE Cluster of Excellence (Cyber Security in the Age of Large-Scale Attacks), addressing cutting-edge challenges in hardware Trojans, side-channel attacks, and cryptographic engineering. His research spans FPGA and IoT security, with contributions to physical-layer security, wireless jamming defenses, and tamper-resistant systems. Research Interests: Paar's expertise lies in hardware-software co-design for security, with a focus on embedded systems. His work includes analyzing vulnerabilities in FPGAs, developing countermeasures against side-channel attacks, and exploring physical-layer security mechanisms. He also investigates the human factors in hardware reverse engineering and the implications of adversarial machine learning on security systems. Notable Work: Recent publications highlight breakthroughs in detecting hardware Trojans across CMOS generations, breaking industry-standard IP protection mechanisms (IEEE 1735), and proposing novel defenses like IRShield against adversarial wireless sensing. His group actively contributes to standards for secure embedded systems and IoT devices, emphasizing practical implementations.

• Secure Decentralized Systems
• Blockchain Technology
• Systems Security
• +3 more

Prof. Bryan Ford leads the Decentralized/Distributed Systems (DEDIS) lab at EPFL. He focuses on secure decentralized systems, including blockchain technology, privacy, and systems security. He earned his Ph.D. from MIT and held faculty positions at Yale University and EPFL. His work spans distributed consensus protocols, peer-to-peer networking, and privacy-preserving systems. Key projects include QuePaxa (timeout-free consensus), UIA (global connectivity for mobile devices), and MedCo (secure healthcare data sharing). He advises numerous PhD students and contributes to open-source projects like Bitcoin collective signing and privacy networks like Riffle. Education: Ph.D., MIT; Postdoctoral work at Yale Research interests include blockchain scalability, consensus algorithms, and cryptographic privacy. His lab develops systems like TRIP for coercion-resistant voting and F3B to mitigate blockchain front-running. His work on NAT traversal and peer-to-peer protocols (e.g., STUN/ICE) remains foundational in network architecture. He emphasizes practical, auditable security solutions such as CertiKOS and atomic cross-chain transactions (Atom). Notable contributions: CoSi (collective signing), OmniLedger (sharded blockchain), and privacy-preserving protocols like PURBs (Protected Unsealable Recursive Boxes). His lab collaborates with Swiss Post to audit e-voting systems and designs democratic cryptocurrencies like PoPCoin.

• Networked Systems
• Distributed Systems
• Social Computing
• +5 more

Krishna Gummadi is a Scientific Director and Professor at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS) in Germany, where he leads the Networked Systems Research Group. He also holds a professorship at the University of Saarland, demonstrating his dual commitment to research and academic instruction in computer science. His educational background includes: Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington (2005) B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (2000) Gummadi's research spans networked and distributed computer systems with a current focus on social computing systems. His work addresses critical challenges in algorithmic fairness, privacy in social media, trustworthiness of online identities, and information dissemination in social networks. He approaches these problems through interdisciplinary methods combining user-centric studies, data-centric analysis, and systems-centric design to create practical solutions that enhance fairness, transparency, and user control in online platforms. His methodology integrates large-scale observational studies, computational modeling, and system implementation to tackle complex human-computer interaction challenges at societal scale. His recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on fairness in algorithmic decision making, with significant contributions to quantifying and addressing discrimination in machine learning systems. His work bridges computer science, social science, and ethics, creating frameworks for fair classification, understanding media bias, and developing privacy-preserving techniques that maintain functionality while protecting user data. The research demonstrates a progression from technical system design to addressing societal implications of computing systems. Among his notable scientific achievements: ERC Advanced Grant in 2017 for 'Foundations for Fair Social Computing' Test of Time Awards at ACM SIGCOMM and AAAI ICWSM Casper Bowden Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PET) and CNIL-INRIA Privacy Runners-Up Awards IW3C2 WWW Best Paper Honorable Mention Multiple Best Paper awards across prestigious conferences Gummadi has advised numerous PhD students and postdoctoral researchers who have gone on to prominent positions in academia and industry. His ERC Advanced Grant has supported extensive research into fair social computing, while his leadership in major conferences (including serving as General Chair for ICWSM 2016 and Program Chair for WWW 2015) has shaped research directions in the field. His teaching portfolio includes courses on Distributed Systems, Human-Centered Machine Learning, and Social Media Analysis. He leads the Networked Systems Research Group at MPI-SWS, which has developed several publicly available systems including tools for fair classification, privacy risk assessment, trust evaluation in social media, and information diet management. The group's work bridges theoretical advances with practical implementations that address real-world challenges in social computing, with numerous software releases and datasets made available to the research community.

• Network Security
• Privacy-Preserving Technologies
• Machine Learning for Networking
• +5 more

Ke Xu is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Tsinghua University's School of Information Science and Technology. With extensive research contributions in network security, privacy-preserving technologies, and machine learning applications for networking, Professor Xu has established himself as a leading researcher in computer science. Professor Xu's research interests span network security, privacy-preserving technologies, machine learning for networking, federated learning, internet protocols, encrypted traffic analysis, blockchain applications, and AI in networking. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical implementations, focusing on real-world security challenges and network optimization problems. He has developed novel frameworks for secure network operations, privacy-preserving data sharing, and efficient AI deployment in distributed environments. Professor Xu's publication record shows a clear trend toward integrating artificial intelligence with traditional networking challenges. His recent work explores federated learning security, encrypted traffic analysis using deep learning, and novel approaches to network security that leverage machine learning techniques. The interdisciplinary nature of his research spans computer networking, security, privacy, and artificial intelligence. Professor Xu has received recognition for his contributions to network security and privacy-preserving technologies through publications in top-tier venues including IEEE journals, ACM conferences, and security symposia. His work has appeared in IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, and security conferences like CCS and NDSS. Professor Xu actively collaborates with researchers across institutions, supervising students and junior researchers in exploring cutting-edge problems in network security and AI. His research has been supported by significant grants focusing on network security, privacy, and intelligent networking infrastructure. He leads projects that address fundamental challenges in secure communication, privacy-preserving data analysis, and intelligent network management. Professor Xu is involved with research laboratories focusing on network security and intelligent systems at Tsinghua University. His team works on developing practical security solutions, privacy frameworks, and AI-enhanced networking protocols that address real-world challenges in today's increasingly connected world.

Mike KosekView profile

Research Fellow

• Transport Protocols
• Congestion Control
• Internet Architecture
• +3 more

Mike Kosek (Dr. rer. nat.) is a Research Fellow at the Chair of Connected Mobility (Department of Informatics) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). His research focuses on transport protocols, congestion control, internet architecture, and internet measurements. Research Interests: Transport protocol design and analysis Congestion control mechanisms Internet architecture and measurement Network performance optimization DNS protocol behavior and privacy Applications in satellite and aerial communication Recent Research Trends: His publications emphasize QUIC protocol analysis, DNS over QUIC investigations, cross-layer protocol interactions, and satellite communication adaptations. Key methodologies include real-world measurements, protocol design extensions, and dataset creation for reproducibility. Contact: E-mail: kosek@in.tum.de Phone: +49 89 289-18665 Office: 01.05.038, Boltzmannstr. 3, 85748 Garching

Christian RossowView profile

Professor

• Network Security
• System Security
• Software Security
• +9 more

Prof. Dr. Christian Rossow is a faculty member at CISPA – Helmholtz Center for Information Security in Dortmund, Germany. He also serves as a professor at Saarland University and an honorary professor at TU Dortmund. His research focuses on network security , system/software security , and cyber attacks and countermeasures . His recent publications include work on CSS exploitation for browser fingerprinting, Spectre mitigations on ARM, DDoS attack analysis, and hardware-assisted security extensions. Christian Rossow regularly serves as a PC member and track chair for top cybersecurity conferences like ACM CCS and USENIX Security . He advises multiple PhD students and leads a research group exploring foundational and practical security solutions.

Christian KrupitzerView profile

Professor

• Food Informatics
• Self-adaptive Software Systems
• Machine Learning
• +4 more

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Christian Krupitzer is a Tenure Track Professor in Food Informatics at the University of Hohenheim's Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology, part of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. He leads the Department of Food Informatics and is a member of the Computational Science Hub (CSH). His research focuses on self-adaptive software systems, machine learning (especially edge computing), IoT technologies, and software engineering applied to food processing and agricultural systems. Education: PhD in Business Information Systems (Dr. rer. pol.), University of Mannheim (2018) M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Business Information Systems, University of Mannheim (2010–2012) High School Diploma (Abitur) from Wilhelmi-Gymnasium Sinsheim (2007) Research Interests: Krupitzer’s work integrates computational methods with food science, emphasizing adaptive systems for food quality monitoring, IoT in agriculture, and machine learning for predictive analytics. He explores edge computing’s role in real-time decision-making and secure group communication schemes for IoT networks. Publications: His recent work spans predictive maintenance in Industry 4.0, digital twins in food systems, and blockchain applications in supply chain authentication. The articles highlight trends in interdisciplinary approaches combining AI, IoT, and domain-specific challenges in food production and logistics. Awards: No scientific awards explicitly listed in the provided materials. Grants & Advising: While specific grants are unmentioned, his roles as department head and tenure-track professor suggest involvement in research funding. No formal advisee list provided, though his team includes postgraduate researchers like Dana Jox, Daniel Einsiedel, and others. Labs & Teams: Leads the Food Informatics department and collaborates with the Computational Science Hub. His team focuses on developing innovative solutions for food systems through computational methods.

Ralph HolzView profile

Professor

• Computer Networks
• Network Security
• Internet Measurement
• +3 more

Professor Ralph Holz is a leading researcher in computer networks and security at the University of Münster, with a part-time affiliation at the University of Twente. His work focuses on empirical analysis of internet security technologies, policy implications, and interdisciplinary collaboration. PhD: Technical University of Munich Undergraduate/Postgraduate: Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen Research interests span global-scale internet measurement , security technology evaluation , and policy-driven cybersecurity solutions , with recent publications on LDAP vulnerabilities, TLS 1.3 deployment, and BGP hijacking. Teaching includes Empirical Security Analysis (MSc), Operating Systems (BSc), and seminars on internet measurement tools. Collaborations involve institutions across Germany, Netherlands, and Australia. Current team: PhD students: Gerrit Seifert, Nils Kempen, Gustavo Luvizotto, Bulut Ulukapi, Shyam Krishna Khadka, Matteo Liberato, Sousan Tarahomi, Niousha Nazemi Administrative support: Clara Wigger Contact: ralph.holz@uni-muenster.de | Einsteinstr. 62, Münster, Germany

• Network Security
• Data Security
• Cryptography
• +5 more

Prof. Dr. Jörg Schwenk is a Professor and Chair of Network and Data Security at Ruhr-University Bochum's Faculty of Computer Science. He has held this position since 2003 and serves as Deputy Managing Director of the university's Computer Center. From 2007 to 2010, he was Managing Director of the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security. His office is located at Universitätsstr. 150, 44801 Bochum (Room MC 4/110), with contact via email at joerg.schwenk@rub.de. His research focuses extensively on practical aspects of information security, particularly in: Cryptographic protocol analysis (TLS, SSH, Noise Protocol) Web and browser security vulnerabilities (XS-Leaks, DOM security) Document security flaws in PDF, OOXML, and OpenDocument formats Email encryption weaknesses and authentication mechanisms Network security implementations and powerline communications Recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on discovering and mitigating critical vulnerabilities in widely used protocols and file formats. His work frequently involves developing automated analysis tools (e.g., TLS-Anvil, XSinator) and reveals systemic security issues in standards implementations. Research outputs consistently target top-tier security venues (USENIX Security, CCS, NDSS) with findings that directly impact real-world systems. Schwenk leads a research group at the Horst Görtz Institute focusing on network and data security. The group maintains an active publication record in applied cryptography and systems security, frequently collaborating with industry partners to address emergent threats. His team's work on TLS vulnerabilities (ALPACA, Raccoon attacks) and document security (PDF/OOXML signature flaws) has significantly influenced protocol designs and standardization efforts.

Esfandiar MohammadiView profile

Associate Professor

• Privacy & security in machine learning
• Differential privacy
• Anonymous communication
• +1 more

Esfandiar Mohammadi is an Associate Professor at the Institute for IT Security, University of Lübeck, leading the Privacy & Security (PrivSec) group and directing the AnoMed competence cluster. He has held tenured faculty positions since 2019 after postdoctoral research at ETH Zürich (2016-2019) and a PhD at Saarland University (2015). University of Lübeck (2015-present) ETH Zürich (2016-2019) Saarland University (2015) His research focuses on privacy-preserving technologies in machine learning, anonymous communication protocols, and formal verification of security properties. Recent work includes advancements in Mixnet scalability and federated learning with differential privacy guarantees. Key publication trends reveal a strong emphasis on privacy-preserving algorithms for machine learning (2024), cryptographic protocols for anonymous communication (2025), and security analysis of decentralized systems (2023-2025). Collaborations span institutions like ETH Zürich, Saarland University, and industry partners EnergieDock/NAECO Blue for the VeDS project. His group includes 11 researchers (5 PhD students) and software engineers working on topics like Differential Privacy Secure Multi-Party Computation Trusted Execution Environments

Aslan AskarovView profile

Associate Professor

• Computer Security
• Programming Languages
• Information Flow Security
• +4 more

Aslan Askarov is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University, where he leads research in computer security and programming languages. He is a member of the Logic and Semantics Group and maintains an active research program with several ongoing projects. Dr. Askarov's research interests span computer security and privacy, with a focus on foundations, information-flow, covert channels, metadata privacy, and formal methods for security. He also works extensively in programming languages, particularly in semantics, design, type systems, and program analysis. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical security applications, particularly in web and mobile security contexts. His active projects include Troupe, a programming language for concurrent and distributed programming with dynamic information flow control, and DenIM, a protocol for secure instant messaging with metadata privacy. These projects reflect his commitment to developing practical security solutions grounded in formal methods. Dr. Askarov has published extensively in top security and programming languages venues, with recent work focusing on metadata privacy in instant messaging, separation logic for virtual machine security, and oblivious execution techniques for reactive programs. His research demonstrates a consistent pattern of addressing fundamental security challenges through formal methods and language-based approaches. CSF 2026 ESOP 2026 PLDI 2025 CSF 2025 CSF 2022 CSF 2021 CSF 2020 PriSC 2020 Nordsec 2019 (co-chair) POST 2019 Euro S&P 2018 PLAS 2017 FCS 2017 (co-chair) HotSpot 2017 FCS 2016 (co-chair) CSF 2016 ESSOS 2015 FCS-FCC 2014 ARES 2014 FCS 2013 ARES 2013 PLAS 2013 ARES 2012 PLAS 2011 (co-chair) ISARCS 2010 PLAS 2009 VODCA 2008 Dr. Askarov teaches advanced courses in computer science, including Compilers in Fall 2024 and Language-Based Security in Spring 2024. He is actively recruiting PhD students and postdocs to work in the areas of Programming Languages and Computer Security, demonstrating his ongoing commitment to mentoring the next generation of researchers.

• Cryptography
• Post-quantum cryptography
• Cryptographic engineering
• +4 more

Peter Schwabe is a scientific director at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy and holds academic positions as a part-time professor for cryptographic engineering in the Digital Security Group at Radboud University, Faculty of Science, and as an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Computer Science at Ruhr University Bochum. His career spans multiple prestigious institutions including Academia Sinica and National Taiwan University. Dr. Schwabe's research focuses on cryptography, particularly post-quantum cryptography, cryptographic engineering, and implementation security. His work addresses critical challenges in secure cryptographic implementations, side-channel resistance, and the transition to quantum-resistant algorithms. He has made significant contributions to NIST's post-quantum cryptography standardization project, particularly with CRYSTALS-Kyber which was selected for standardization in July 2022. His publication record shows a strong emphasis on practical implementations of cryptographic algorithms, formal verification of security properties, and addressing real-world security challenges. Recent work centers on verifying Kyber implementations, protecting against Spectre variants, and developing high-assurance cryptographic software. Dr. Schwabe has received significant recognition in the field, serving as an elected member of the IACR Board of Directors and participating in various steering committees including the IACR CHES and RWC Steering Committees. He also serves on advisory boards for several security-focused companies. As an advisor, he has supervised numerous PhD students working on cutting-edge cryptographic research, with recent graduates focusing on post-quantum cryptography, side-channel resistance, and formal verification of cryptographic implementations. His research group actively contributes to both theoretical advances and practical implementations in cryptography.