Cyber Security Research Group (CSRG)

Computer Science

The Cyber Security Research Group (CSRG) deals with the IT security of local and distributed systems / IoT as well as the organizational aspects of IT security in companies. The research group works closely with the Center for Technology and Transfer (ZTT).

Team

Staff:

  • Prof. Dr. Steffen Wendzel
  • Prof. Dr. Eberhard Kurz
  • Prof. Dr. Bernd Ruhland
  • Prof. Dr. Herbert Thielen
  • Prof. Dr. Zdravko Bozakov
  • Prof. Dr. Jens Kohler
  • Daniel Bub, B.Sc. (Assistent, FB Informatik)
  • Laura Hartmann, M.Sc. (Wissenschaftl. Mitarbeiterin, Project MADISA, Project EMPOWER)
  • Julia Lenz, M.Sc. (Wissenschaftl. Mitarbeiterin, Project KISAT)
  • Thomas Weigold, M.Sc. (Wissenschaftl. Mitarbeiter, Project KIASH, Project EMPOWER)
  • Sebastian Zillien, M.Sc. (Wissenschaftl. Mitarbeiter, Project SIVERT)

External doctoral candidate:

  • Tobias Schmidbauer, M.Sc. (FernUniversität in Hagen)

Student member:

-

Bachelor’s and Master’s Theses

    We offer supervision of theses on the following topics (as well as related areas). Feel free to contact us if you are interested in a thesis.

    Subject Contact Person
    Security of Communication Protocols Prof. Wendzel / Prof. Bozakov / Prof. Thielen
    Free Software Security /Securing IT Systems Prof. Ruhland / Prof. Thielen
    Organizational IT Security (Governance and Business Continuity Mgmt., Emergency Mgmt., awareness measures and campaigns for employees)Prof. Kurz
    Security in Software-Defined Networks (SDN) and Cloud Computing Prof. Bozakov
    Steganography / Hidden Channels / Information Hiding Prof. Wendzel
    Secure (cloud-based) software developmentProf. Kohler
    Theses in Connection with Research Projects: 
    Internet of Things (IoT) Security / Research Project  KISATProf. Bozakov / Prof. Wendzel
    Industrial Control System Security / Smart Buildings /  Research Project MADISAFr. Hartmann / Prof. Wendzel
    Machine Learning Security / Research Project  SIVERTHr. Zillien / Prof. Wendzel
    IT Security of Smart Homes / Research Project  KIASHHr. Weigold / Prof. Wendzel
    Research Project WoDiCoF/WoDiCoF+Hr. Zillien / Prof. Wendzel
    Research Project SecureViewHr. Weigold / Prof. Bozakov
    Research Project EMPOWERFr. Hartmann / Prof. Wendzel

     

    Current Publications

    2023

    Steffen Wendzel, Luca Caviglione, Wojciech Mazurczyk (2023) Avoiding research tribal wars using taxonomies. IEEE Computer 56/1:93–96. IEEE, DOI: 10.1109/MC.2022.3218175.

    2022

    Tobias Schmidbauer, Steffen Wendzel (2022a) SoK: A Survey Of Indirect Network-level Covert Channels. In: Proc. 17th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security (AsiaCCS 2022). ACM, pp 546–560, DOI: 10.1145/3488932.3517418. Acceptance rate: 18.4%

    Steffen Wendzel, Luca Caviglione, Bernhard Fechner (2022e) Poster: Steganography Hiding Patterns: A Brief Review. In: Proc. European Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Conference (EICC 2022). ACM, DOI: 10.1145/3528580.3532997.

    Daniel Bub, Laura Hartmann, Zdravko Bozakov, Steffen Wendzel (2022) Towards Passive Identification of Aged Android Devices in the Home Network. In: Proc. European Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Conference (EICC 2022). ACM, DOI: 10.1145/3528580.3528584.

    Steffen Wendzel, Wojciech Mazurczyk, Luca Caviglione, Amir Houmansadr (2022) Emerging topics in defending networked systems. Future Generation Computer Systems (FGCS) 128:317–319. Elsevier, DOI: 10.1016/j.future.2021.10.010.

    2021

    Laura Hartmann, Steffen Wendzel: Detection of Anomalous Values within TIA Project Data History for Industrial Control Systems, EICC 2021 - Doctoral Symposium.

    Laura Hartmann, Steffen Wendzel: How Feasible are Steganographic and Stealth Attacks on TIA Project Metadata of ICS: A Case Study with Real-world Data, EICC 2021 - DETONATOR workshop.

    Laura Hartmann, Sebastian Zillien, Steffen Wendzel: Reset- and Reconnection-based Covert Channels in CoAP, EICC 2021 - DETONATOR workshop.

    Steffen WendzelIT-Sicherheit für TCP/IP- und IoT-Netzwerke: Grundlagen, Konzepte, Protokolle, Härtung, 2nd edn. Springer, 2021.

    Steffen Wendzel, Luca Caviglione, Wojciech Mazurczyk, Aleksandra Mileva, Jana Dittmann, Christian Krätzer, Kevin Lamshöft, Claus Vielhauer, Laura Hartmann, Jörg Keller, Tom Neubert: A Revised Taxonomy of Steganography Embedding Patterns. In: Proc. 16th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES 2021). Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. Available at https://patterns.ztt.hs-worms.de.

    Sebastian Zillien, Steffen WendzelReconnection-Based Covert Channels in Wireless Networks. In: Jøsang A, Futcher L, Hagen J (eds) ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection (Proc. IFIP SEC 2021). Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 118–133, 2021.

    Simon Vrhovec, Luca Caviglione, Steffen Wendzel: Crème de la Crème: Lessons from Papers in Top Publications. In: Proc. 16th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES 2021). Association for Computing Machinery, 2021.

    Aleksandra Mileva, Luca Caviglione, Aleksandar Velinov, Steffen Wendzel et al.: Risks and Opportunities for Information Hiding in DICOM Standard. In: Proc. 16th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES 2021). Association for Computing Machinery, 2021.

    Tobias Schmidbauer, Steffen Wendzel: Hunting Shadows: Towards Packet Runtime-based Detection Of Computational Intensive Reversible Covert Channels. In: Proc. 16th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES 2021). Association for Computing Machinery, 2021.

    Jens Marcus Woehe, Eberhard Kurz: Krisen in Digitalprojekten erfolgreich managen, Hanser, ISBN 978-3-446-46756-9, 2021.

    Jörg Keller, Steffen Wendzel: Reversible and Plausibly Deniable Covert Channels in One-Time Passwords Based on Hash Chains, MDPI Applied Sciences, Applied Sciences, Vol. 11(2), MDPI, 2021.

    Aleksandra Mileva, Aleksandar Velinov, Laura Hartmann, Steffen Wendzel, Wojciech Mazurczyk: Comprehensive Analysis of MQTT 5.0 Susceptibility to Network Covert Channels, Computers & Security, Vol. 104, pp. 102207ff, Elsevier, 2021.

    Steffen Wendzel, Wojciech Mazurczyk, Luca Caviglione, Amir Houmansadr (Eds.): Emerging Topics in Defending Networked Systems, Special Issue at Future Generation Computer Systems (FGCS), Elsevier, 2021.

    2020

    Steffen Wendzel, Cédric Lévy-Bencheton, Luca Caviglione: Not all Areas are Equal: Analysis of Citations in Information Security Research, Scientometrics, Vol. 122(1), pp. 267-286, Springer, 2020.

    Tobias Schmidbauer, Steffen Wendzel: Covert Storage Caches using the NTP Protocol, in Proc. CUING Workshop 2020 (ARES 2020), ACM, 2020.

    Przemysław Szary, Wojciech Mazurczyk, Luca Caviglione, Steffen Wendzel: Design and Performance Evaluation of Reversible Network Covert Channels, in Proc. CUING Workshop 2020 (ARES 2020), ACM, 2020.

    Steffen Wendzel, Luca Caviglione, Alessandro Checco, Aleksandra Mileva, Jean-Francois Lalande, Wojciech Mazurczyk: Special Issue Editorial: Information Security Methodology, Replication Studies and Information Security Education, Journal of Universal Computer Science, Vol. 26(7), pp. 762-763, 2020.

    Luca Caviglione, Aleksandra Mileva, Steffen Wendzel (Eds.): Proceedings of the First European Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Conference (EICC'2020), ACM, 2020.

    Jörg Keller, Steffen Wendzel: Covert Channels in One-Time Passwords Based on Hash Chains, in Proc. European Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Conference (EICC 2020), ACM, 2020.

    Laura Hartmann, Steffen Wendzel: Anomaly Detection in ICS based on Data-history Analysis, in Proc. European Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Conference (EICC 2020), ACM, 2020.

    Steffen Wendzel: Review of the book Future Automation: Changes to Lives and to Businesses by Carone, T. (World Scientific Publishing Co, Inc., 2018), ACM Computing Reviews, 2020.

    2019

    Wojciech Mazurczyk, Steffen Wendzel, Mehdi Chourib, Jörg Keller: Countering Adaptive Network Covert Communication with Dynamic Wardens, Future Generation Computer Systems (FGCS), Vol. 94, pp. 712-725, Elsevier, 2019.
    Impact factor: 4.639 (at time of publication).

    Aleksandar Velinov, Aleksandra Mileva, Steffen Wendzel, Wojciech Mazurczyk: Covert Channels in MQTT-based Internet of Things, IEEE ACCESS, Vol. 7, pp. 161899-161915, 2019.

    Steffen Wendzel: Protocol-independent Detection of `Messaging Ordering' Network Covert Channels, in Proc. Third International Workshop on Criminal Use of Information Hiding (CUING 2019), pp. 63:1-63:8, ACM, 2019.

    Tobias Schmidbauer, Steffen Wendzel, Aleksandra Mileva and Wojciech Mazurczyk: Introducing Dead Drops to Network Steganography using ARP-Caches and SNMP-Walks, in Proc. Third International Workshop on Criminal Use of Information Hiding (CUING 2019), pp. 64:1-64:10, ACM, 2019.

    Wojciech Mazurczyk, Przemysław Szary, Steffen Wendzel and Luca Caviglione: Towards Reversible Storage Network Covert Channels, in Proc. Third International Workshop on Criminal Use of Information Hiding (CUING 2019), pp. 69:1-69:8, ACM, 2019.

    Wojciech Mazurczyk, Luca Caviglione, Steffen Wendzel: Recent Advancements in Digital Forensics – part two (Special Issue Introductory Article), IEEE Security and Privacy Magazine, IEEE, Vol. 17(1), 2019.

    Zhihan Lv, Wojciech Mazurczyk, Steffen Wendzel, Houbing Song (Eds.): Recent Advances in Cyber-Physical Security in Industrial Environments, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (TII), IEEE, 2019.

    Luca Caviglione, Wojciech Mazurczyk, Steffen Wendzel: Advanced Information Hiding Techniques for Modern Botnets, in: G. Kambourakis et al. (Eds.): Botnets: Architectures, Countermeasures, and Challenges, CRC Series in Security, Privacy and Trust, Ch. 4, pp. 165-188, Taylor & Francis, 2019.

    Steffen Wendzel, Johannes Plötner: Einstieg in Linux, 8th Edition, Rheinwerk Verlag, 2019.

    Qi Wang; Jose M. Alcaraz Calero, [...], Zdravko Bozakov, et al.: Enable Advanced QoS-Aware Network Slicing in 5G Networks for Slice-Based Media Use Cases, IEEE Trans. Broadcast, Vol. 65(2), 2019.

    2018

    Steffen Wendzel, Daniela Eller, Wojciech Mazurczyk: One Countermeasure, Multiple Patterns: Countermeasure Variation for Covert Channels, in Proc. Central European Security Conference (CECC'18), pp. 1:1-1:6, ACM, 2018.

    Sebastian Zillien, Steffen Wendzel: Detection of covert channels in TCP retransmissions, in Proc. 23rd Nordic Conference on Secure IT Systems (NordSec), LNCS 11252, pp. 203-218, Springer, 2018.

    Wojciech Mazurczyk, Steffen Wendzel: Information Hiding – Challenges for Forensic Experts, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 61(1), pp. 86-94, ACM, January 2018.

    Krzysztof Cabaj, Luca Caviglione, Wojciech Mazurczyk, Steffen Wendzel, Alan Woodward, Sebastian Zander: The New Threats of Information Hiding: the Road Ahead, IEEE IT Professional, Vol. 20(3), pp. 31-39, IEEE, 2018. [preprint]

    Steffen Wendzel: IT-Sicherheit für TCP/IP- und IoT-Netzwerke: Grundlagen, Konzepte, Protokolle, Härtung, Springer Vieweg, ISBN 978-3-658-22603-9, 2018.

    Ralf Keidel, Steffen Wendzel, Sebastian Zillien, Eric S. Conner and Georg Haas: WoDiCoF – A Testbed for the Evaluation of (Parallel) Covert Channel Detection Algorithms, Journal of Universal Computer Science, Vol. 24(5), pp. 556-576, 2018.

    Wojciech Mazurczyk, Steffen Wendzel, Krzysztof Cabaj: Towards Deriving Insights into Data Hiding Methods Using Pattern-based Approach, in Proc. Second International Workshop on Criminal Use of Information Hiding (CUING 2018) at ARES, pp. 10:1-10:10, ACM, 2018.

    Steffen Wendzel: Get Me Cited, Scotty! Analysis of Citations in Covert Channel/Steganography Research, in Proc. Second International Workshop on Criminal Use of Information Hiding (CUING 2018) at ARES, pp. 13:1-13:8, ACM, 2018.

    Luca Caviglione, Wojciech Mazurczyk, Steffen Wendzel, Sebastian Zander: Special Issue Editorial: Emerging and Unconventional: New Attacks and Innovative Detection Techniques, Security and Communication Networks (SCN), Wiley-Hindawi, 2018.

    Steffen Wendzel:  Review of the article ``Man-in-the-middle attacks on Secure Simple Pairing in Bluetooth Standard V5.0 and Its Countermeasure'' (Springer Pers. Ubiquit. Comput., 2018) by Sun, Mu and Susilo, ACM Computing Reviews, 2018.

    Steffen Wendzel, Detlef Olschewski: Internet of Things und Smart Contracts: Risiken bei der Digitalisierung von Unternehmen, in: Barton et al. (Hrsg.): Angewandte Wirtschaftsinformatik, Bd. III, pp. 291-302, Springer, 2018.

    Qi Wang; Jose M. Alcaraz Calero, [...] Zdravko Bozakov et al.: SliceNet: End-to-End Cognitive Network Slicing and Slice Management Framework in Virtualised Multi-Domain, in: Multi-Tenant 5G Networks, BMSB, 2018.

    2017

    Ältere Publikationen (von Prof. Wendzel) (ab 2003).