“I am fascinated by digital security, one of the most pressing challenges of our time. I am particularly interested in the question: How can we protect systems when attackers are becoming increasingly creative?
I’ve been in computer science for a long time now, and the subject has interested me ever since my degree – particularly the aspect of how software systems can still function correctly despite having components that have been tampered with. This principle is known as Byzantine fault tolerance. How can systems be built in such a way that they remain reliable even under attack? This very question is one of my main areas of research today.
Later, a second – and now larger – area was added: the detection and analysis of attacks. Here, I observe what is happening within a system at the lowest level – for example, by monitoring production systems. So-called honeypots are an important tool in this regard: systems that are deliberately made vulnerable to lure attackers. This allows me to track in real time which attacks are currently circulating on the internet. What is particularly alarming is how quickly and fully automatically attackers scan the entire Internet for vulnerabilities around the clock.
I benefit enormously from interdisciplinary collaboration, particularly in the field of smart home security. This is because the human factor plays a major role here. It is only by working together with other disciplines that we can develop solutions which are tailored to people’s everyday lives and are also legally compliant.”
In his research, Professor Hans P. Reiser develops algorithms and architectures that keep computer systems operational even when individual components have been compromised by attackers. He also investigates how networked server systems can automatically adapt and optimise themselves, how cloud computing can be made more secure, and how malware can be detected and analysed in cloud environments – for example, by monitoring the inner workings of virtual machines without disrupting them. To the chair's website
