Our
Research
Research Areas
ATHENE is accompanying the digitalization of society, economy and government from the perspective of cybersecurity and privacy with application-oriented cutting-edge research and development. The research is divided into various research areas headed by coordinators. In projects assigned to these research areas, concepts, methods and technologies are being developed that sustainably improve and ensure cyber security and privacy protection across all areas of life. An interdisciplinary approach to the problems involves different sciences such as psychology, ergonomics, economics, etc.

- ABC New DirectionsProf. Haya Shulman
- Active Cyber DefenseProf. Haya Shulman
- Collaborative P2P Botnet Monitoring and Data-AnalysisProf. Max Mühlhäuser
- Research Platform Internet CybersecurityProf. Haya Shulman
- Routing SecurityProf. Haya Shulman
- SecSanProf. Michael Waidner
- Security of Critical InfrastructuresProf. Haya Shulman

- Code transformers and knowledge graphs for vulnerability detectionProf. Mira Mezini
- Cross-Language Library-Aware Security Analysis of Complex Software SystemsProf. Mira Mezini
- Enhanced Vulnerability DetectionDr. Steven Arzt
- Visual and User-Centric Support for Verifying and Avoiding VulnerabilitiesProf. Jörn Kohlhammer

- Agile and Easy-to-use Integration of PQC SchemesProf. Andreas HeinemannProf. Alexander Wiesmaier
- Cryptography and Game Theory for Decentralized ExchangesProf. Sebastian Faust
- High Performance Implementations of PQC SchemesNorman Lahr
- Leakage Models for Masking: Bridging the gap between theory and practiceProf. Sebastian Faust
- PORTUNUSProf. Andreas Koch
- PQC Building Blocks for eCard Applications - Quantum-resilient PACEProf. Alexander Wiesmaier
- Quantum-Resistance of Symmetric-Key PrimitivesProf. Marc Fischlin

Legal Aspects of Privacy and IT Security (LeAP)
Coordinators:
Dr. Annika Selzer
Prof. Indra Spiecker gen. Döhmann
- Systematic privacy for large, real-life data processing systemsDr. Annika Selzer
- Legal framework for offensive cybersecurity research (LegRes)Dr. Annika Selzer
- Privacy at Large (P@L)Dr. Annika Selzer

Next Generation Biometric Systems (NGBS)
Coordinators:
Prof. Christian Rathgeb
Prof. Christoph Busch
Dr. Naser Damer
- Biometric sample quality assessmentFlorian Kirchbuchner, M. Sc.Dr. Olaf Henniger
- Embedded BiometricsFlorian Kirchbuchner, M. Sc.Dr. Naser Damer
- Fair Biometric Systems Prof. Christoph Busch
- Operational Challenges in Face RecognitionProf. Christoph BuschProf. Christian Rathgeb
- Secure Identity ManagementFlorian Kirchbuchner, M. Sc.Dr. Naser Damer

- Cryptographic Evaluation of Bluetooth (CryptoBlue)Prof. Marc Fischlin
- Efficient practical tests of the security properties of IoT systems through the use of novel return channels (ETCH)
- Next Generation Secure Wireless Communications (NGWiSec)Prof. Matthias HollickDr. Jiska Classen
- Open Side-Channel-Resilient Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) Design (TrusTEE)Prof. Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi
- Secure Hardware Monitors for Data and Control Flows (SHMoDaCo)Prof. Andreas Koch
- Security and Privacy of IoT Communication Technologies (SPIC)

Reliable and Verifiable Information through Secure Media (REVISE)
Coordinator:
Prof. Martin Steinebach
- Cross-Domain Disinformation Analysis (CRISIS)Prof. Martin Steinebach
- Deepfake REcognition and Artificial Media (DREAM)Prof. Martin Steinebach

- Automotive Forensic Processing (AuFoP)Prof. Christoph Busch
- SECurity Test and Evaluation platform for Autonomous driving – used for IDPS (SECTEA)

- Collecting and Sharing Distributed Medical Data of a Digital Twin - Securely, Privacy-friendly and User-centeredProf. Jörn Kohlhammer
- Disinformation and CoronaProf. Martin Steinebach
- Fake News and Conspiracy TheoriesProf. Iryna Gurevych
- JAB Codes for Secure Ad-hoc DocumentsProf. Martin Steinebach
- Privacy-Aware Domain-Adaptive Medical NLP (PADAM)Prof. Iryna Gurevych
- Quality Assurance of Biomedical LiteratureProf. Iryna Gurevych

- Architecture and Processes for Effective Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection in Smart Cities (SecArch)Prof. Haya Shulman
- Integrating Safety and Security Aspects in Secure Urban Infrastructures (SaSec)Prof. Joachim Vogt
- Secure Urban Mesh Networks (Smesh)Prof. Matthias Hollick
- Security Modelling and Simulation of Secure Urban Infrastructures (SeMS)Prof. Max Mühlhäuser
- Security of Urban Infrastructures Against Cyberattacks (SecAttack)Prof. Christian Reuter

Security and Privacy in Artificial Intelligence (SenPAI)
Coordinator:
Prof. Martin Steinebach
- Adversarial Attacks on NLP systemsProf. Iryna Gurevych
- EXplainable REinforcement Learning for Secure Intelligent Systems (XReLeaS)Prof. Jan PetersProf. Kristian Kersting
- Protecting Privacy and Sensitive Information in TextsProf. Iryna Gurevych
- Robustness in Machine Learning (RoMa)Prof. Martin Steinebach
- Security and Privacy in Automated OSINT (SePiA)Prof. Martin Steinebach

Trustworthy Data Ecosystems (TRUDATA)
Coordinators:
Prof. Carsten Binnig
Prof. Sebastian Faust
- Encryption Meets SearchProf. Marc Fischlin
- Hardware-assisted Data ProtectionProf. Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi
- Model-centric Deductive Verification of Smart ContractsDr. Richard BubelProf. Reiner Hähnle
- Probabilistic Data Structures in Adversarial EnvironmentsDr. Jean Paul Degabriele
- Securing Refinements of Distributed WorkflowsProf. Heiko Mantel
- Trusted Multiparty Computation as a ServiceProf. Sebastian Faust
- Trusted Utilization of Personal DataProf. Mira Mezini

User-centered Security and Privacy (UCSP)
Coordinators:
Prof. Max Mühlhäuser
Prof. Peter Buxmann
Prof. Andreas Heinemann
- Comprehensive Probabilistic QoSec-Assessment (ComPAss)Prof. Max Mühlhäuser
- Fingerprinting Detection and Remediation in Mobile AppsDr. Jens Heider
- User-Centered Technology Design for Cyber Situational AwarenessProf. Christian Reuter
- Visualization-based Technologies as Enablers for Privacy Sovereignty Online (PriVis)Prof. Jörn Kohlhammer