Aims and objectives

ICSP researches, communicates and transfers approaches, technologies and solutions to promote security and privacy in the new digital reality. In doing so, ICSP takes a multi-faceted, technically and organisationally holistic and interdisciplinary multi-perspective view of the field. The institute's goal is to help shape national, European and international research in the long term, as well as to impart the available know-how in the training of highly-qualified Bachelor's and Master's graduates and to transfer it to industry and administration via cooperations and spin-offs.

Research and application fields

Cyber Security & Cyber Privacy are both cross-sectional disciplines that are already of immense importance for the economy, administration and society in a ubiquitously digitalised and interconnected reality of life - especially against the backdrop of constantly increasing threats and criminal acts from the network. The ICSP bundles the activities that are vital for the prevention, detection and response to security incidents from a technical and organisational perspective in research, development and teaching.

Main research fields

• Security and privacy protection of autonomous, mobile and distributed systems

(e.g. Cloud, IoT, Smart Home, Industry 4.0, RFID/NFC, mobile networks, health systems, payment systems, robotics, self-driving systems, automobiles)

• Applications of cryptographic processes

(e.g. cryptographic protocols and applications, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, identity, privacy, anonymity, and PETs) 

• Hardware-related implementation security

(e.g. hardware security, firmware security, microarchitecture security, cryptographic implementation, side channel analysis, error analysis, covert information channels, embedded software, smart card security)

• IT security conception and evaluation of IT products and IT-systems

(e.g. Common Criteria, FIPS-140, special aspect: consumer protection in digitalisation, data literacy)

• IT security management

(e.g. organisation & processes, governance & standards, audits and controlling, IT security management in SMEs, ISO 27000, VdS 10000)

• Secure and data protection-friendly development of Machine Learning (ML)
• Software and system vulnerability analysis

(e.g. security analyses, penetration tests) 

• Malware analysis and intrusion detection

(e.g. malware analysis, indicators of compromise, threat intelligence)

• Usable Security & Privacy