Layman's description

Security and privacy are crucial to be constantly investigated and improved “in a world where everything is a computer”. Increasingly more things are computerized and connected to the internet, while breaches happen on a daily basis from small data leaks through organized criminal activities to large-scale attacks. As people and the objects around them are becoming a part of this digital world, we need innovative and holistic approaches to guarantee security and privacy for the society.

This research line (entitled ‘secOUrity’) embraces the challenges from various directions. We analyze existing systems at the network, hardware and software levels. Furthermore, we design and implement technologies and measures to improve security and privacy. Finally, we develop and test novel tools in education. To achieve the best results, this research line combines knowledge and experience from computer science, cryptography, security, artificial intelligence and big data. We address security and privacy of software, computer systems, and information systems.

We focus on the following directions:

• Applied cryptography for security and privacy
• AI for security
• Digital fingerprinting
• Formal methods for security
• Software tools to support security education
• Societal relevance: relation with the KIA Veiligheid