Expertise

«Trust and collaboration are fundamental for effective research and development to protect society from cyber threats.»
Bruce Nikkel

Cyber Threat Intelligence

We develop new techniques and tools to improve the Cybersecurity of IT infrastructure. Our current activities are based in the fields of threat intelligence and malware analysis using machine learning and data analytics. We work with partners from industry on a range of projects.
Examples: Development of software products to detect and prevent Cyber attacks, and development of new tools and techniques for reverse engineering malware.

FinTech Security Group

The FinTech Security research group develops secure and open payment systems like GNU Taler, and has a focus on virtual and crypto currency research. We also develop methods for preventing, detecting, and investigating cyber-fraud. The group studies the criminal underground economy, and online money laundering.

E-Voting Group

Designing secure protocols for electronic voting is considered one of the most challenging problems in applied cryptography. A comprehensive knowledge of modern cryptography is required in order to create protocols with an adequate security level to protect both privacy and the integrity of the vote.
The E-Voting Group is currently involved in several interdisciplinary projects that focus on developing, implementing and testing different cryptographic voting protocols. Our experience in privacy protection technologies also allows us to tackle related problems such as e-ticketing and road pricing.

We have strong links to e-voting research groups in Switzerland and abroad. We also work with the Federal Chancellery of Switzerland, which is overseeing pilot e-voting projects in several cantons.

Security and Privacy Group

The amount of data gathered on individuals is growing exponentially. Data is often seen as an asset of the firm – without regard for the person it relates to. The advent of the ‘Internet of Things’ has intensified the problem. Our Institute develops and promotes the use of privacy-enhancing technologies.

We are actively involved in various projects where data needs special attention, for instance in medicine or other areas that involve particularly sensitive data.

Wireless Communications & Secure Internet of Things

With increasing processing power, the worldwide reach of the Internet and the miniaturisation of computing devices, we have arrived in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT): sensors capture various forms of data and decentralised processing systems gather, process and distribute data to centralised systems or to the cloud, while controlling and managing various actuators at the same time.
The research group ‘Wireless Communications & Secure Internet of Things’ (WiCom & SIoT) focuses on the new challenges presented by the components and systems that make up what is known as the ‘Internet of Things’. We are currently setting up a generic SIoT platform that aims to provide a high reuse factor for IoT projects. As the ‘S’ stands for secure, the focus is on security and privacy aspects.