Guide to Privacy and Security
This guide provides an overview of how our courses fit together throughout your studies and how they lead from foundational topics and advanced courses to research-oriented formats and final theses. A complete overview of all courses offered by the chair can be found under Courses.
Bachelor's Program
In the Bachelor's program, we teach the foundations of IT security and privacy. The mandatory course Security (Sec) serves as the central entry point into the field and provides the basis for further study. Building on this foundation, students can deepen their knowledge through courses such as Cryptography and Cryptanalysis (Crypto), Information and Coding Theory (IKT), and the Cryptography and Data Protection Lab (KDS).
Alongside these courses, students are gradually introduced to research and scientific work. We consider the Bachelor Seminar and Bachelor Thesis as a coherent unit: the Bachelor Seminar prepares students methodologically and conceptually for their subsequent thesis. In particular, students explore a research area, review relevant literature, and develop a concrete research question or project. The same principle applies to the Belegseminar and Großer Beleg in the Diplom program.
Master's Program
In the Master's program and the advanced stage of the Diplom program, the focus shifts toward specialized and advanced topics. Network Security (NETSEC) provides a recommended entry point. Building on this foundation, we offer advanced courses on current topics in security, privacy, and resilient and decentralized systems, including Blockchain Technologies (BTC), Peer-to-Peer Systems (P2P), the Systems Security Lab (SSL), Anonymous Communication (ANON), Security in Applications (ASec), and IT Security in Cloud Computing (CSec).
At the same time, independent engagement with current research becomes increasingly important, particularly in preparation for the Master's thesis. We offer two complementary formats for this purpose. Analysis of a Research Topic1 is primarily literature- and analysis-oriented and provides an opportunity to systematically explore a current research area. In a Research Project, students instead focus on the practical and methodological investigation of a concrete research question. In preparation for the Master's thesis, we expect completing at least one of these two formats. Both can be aligned with a prospective thesis topic and thus contribute directly to the subsequent thesis.
Footnotes
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Equivalent to Exploration of a Research Subject (INF-25-Ma-ERS)