Cybersecurity

at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science

 
The Cybersecurity group conducts research into various topics, ranging from cryptography to data analytics, and focuses on improving cybersecurity. We aim to make – in particular the digital – world safer by furthering state-of-the-art computer science theories, algorithms, and implementations.

 
Research area

In privacy, we develop advanced methods for homomorphic encryption and multi-party computing with application in data sharing and blockchain. In hardware, we use machine learning to develop new attack mechanisms for side-channel analysis, and evolutionary algorithms to create improved hardware designs. In networking, we build crawlers and fuzzers to collect big data sets that give us an overview of the latest security threats. In software, we develop new algorithms for automated reverse engineering or analysis of applications.

We develop solutions that contribute to the very latest technology in the fields of computer security and artificial intelligence (AI). Examples include the development of learning algorithms that can handle large network data flows, deep learning methods that are immune to common side-channel defenses, machine learning algorithms that can operate on encrypted data, and analysis of the latest security threats. We aim to publish our results in scientific journal and conferences of A and A* quality, and to transfer our scientific know-how and technologies to students, and our public and private partners in the field of cybersecurity.


Education

We are responsible for cybersecurity education at B.Sc. and M.Sc. level in the computer science program. Since 2013, a specialization program on cybersecurity exists within the master program in Computer Science. We closely collaborate in teaching, student supervision and research with other groups within Computer Science (such as Software Engineering, Distributed Systems, and Delft Blockchain lab), and in particular with our colleagues in the Cybersecurity group at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management through the Computer Science special program Cybersecurity, and the Executive Master program Cybersecurity.

Collaborations with external organizations are essential for education and research in cybersecurity. The cybersecurity group has an extensive network of public and private partnerships, which in many cases provide us with use cases, cybersecurity data, and financial support. Our research and education can therefore be characterized as being use-inspired and fundamental, ranging from developing new security and AI algorithms to engaging with real use cases of our partners.

 

Research activities
The research activities are organized around our faculty members.

News

24 november 2021

Hand Me Your PIN! Inferring ATM PINs of Users Typing with a Covered Hand

Hand Me Your PIN! Inferring ATM PINs of Users Typing with a Covered Hand

Dr. Stjepan Picek, Prof. Mauro Conti, and their colleagues from the University of Padova published a work where they investigated the security of the PIN mechanism for ATMs. They showed that even if a user covers the typing hand with the other hand, a deep learning-based attack can infer the correct PIN.

21 oktober 2021

Dieuwke van den Ende wins the Joop Bautz Information Security Award 2021

Dieuwke van den Ende wins the Joop Bautz Information Security Award 2021

Dieuwke van den Ende, who conducted a major degree in Computer Science and Mathematics, won the Joop Bautz Information Security Award for 2021.

20 september 2021

Just around the corner: the privacy-preserving future

Just around the corner: the privacy-preserving future

Zeki Erkin was recently interviewed by Leiden-Delft-Erasmus. For him, privacy is a human right that needs to be respected. That is why he shapes his research around secure data sharing and processing by means of encryption.

06 september 2021

Keynote speech Zeki Erkin at BRAIN 2021

Keynote speech Zeki Erkin at BRAIN 2021

Dr. Zeki Erkin gave a keynote speech during the 2nd Workshop on Blockchain Theory and Applications, BRAIN, 2021 on September the 5th.

26 augustus 2021

#SIGCOMM 2021 Best paper: "Seven years in the life of Hypergiants' off-nets"

#SIGCOMM 2021 Best paper: "Seven years in the life of Hypergiants' off-nets"

Prof. Georgios Smaragdakis (Cybersecurity group) and colleagues from UCL, Microsoft, Columbia University, and FORTH were awarded the Best paper award in ACM SIGCOMM 2021 for their paper: "Seven Years in the Life of Supergiants' off-nets." SIGCOMM is the ACM flagship conference in Internet Architecture and Networking.

09 maart 2021

New EU's Horizon 2020 grant

New EU's Horizon 2020 grant

We are pleased to announce that the project "artificial Intelligence threat Reporting and Incident response System” (IRIS) has been recently granted under the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

10 november 2020

Corona-proof introduction of Executive Master Program Cyber Security

Corona-proof introduction of Executive Master Program Cyber Security

On November, 6th there was a live introduction of the Executive Master Program Cyber Security. The introduction took place in corona-proof studios of Leiden University. The academic executive master’s programme Cyber Security is multidisciplinary; the programme covers technological as well as legal, administrative, economic and psychological aspects of digital security.

19 oktober 2020

Uitnodiging HSD Café: AI, Security en Ethiek - donderdag 29 oktober 2020

Uitnodiging HSD Café: AI, Security en Ethiek - donderdag 29 oktober 2020

De snelle ontwikkelingen in Kunstmatige Intelligentie hebben grote economische en maatschappelijke gevolgen voor de toekomst. Effectief samenwerken wordt de sleutel tot optimaal gebruik van AI. Waar staan we nu?

01 oktober 2020

Importance of directing cybersecurity research in The Netherlands

Importance of directing cybersecurity research in The Netherlands

The Dutch cybersecurity platform for higher education and research (dcypher) was founded in April 2016, with the goal of setting and coordinating scientific and applied cybersecurity research and higher education in The Netherlands. However, as of October 2020, dcypher, as we know it, will no longer exist and the future remains unknown as it is not clear what a post-dcypher era will look like.

28 september 2020

Cyber Security Next Generation 6th annual workshop on November 27, 2020

Cyber Security Next Generation 6th annual workshop on November 27, 2020

Cyber Security Next Generation is organizing its 6th annual workshop for PhD and MSc students to present and discuss their work with peers. The workshop is meant as a platform for young cybersecurity researchers from all fields to meet new (and old) colleagues, and share ideas.