Student Theses

We are constantly offering topics for student theses. Most topics can be adapted, no matter if you are looking for a Bachelor's, Master's, or Diploma thesis, or even a research related module (e.g., INF-PM-FPA). If you are interested, please check the remarks below and contact Florian Tschorsch for an initial consultation or the supervisor of the respective topic directly. It is good practice to get in touch well in advance of your planned starting date.

Requirements and Expectations

We expect that students have substantial knowledge related to privacy and security, typically demonstrated through successful completion of our courses. In addition, candidates for a Master’s thesis should have knowledge in a sub-field related to our research topics and experience with associated research methodologies. Before you start, make sure that you allocate sufficient time for your research work. Our expectation is that you work full time on your thesis project.

The thesis should demonstrate your ability to solve problems independently and document results according to scientific standards. While Bachelor’s theses can be more practical (approx. reflecting the state-of-the-art), Master’s theses should offer new insights (approx. we learn something new). The Bachelor’s thesis can be written in German and English, typically comprising 30-40 pages. The default language for Master's theses is English, typically comprising 60-80 pages.

Supervision

Thesis writing is an interactive process, involving discussions with your supervisor and potentially other members of our research group. Candidates often spend part of the time at our chair. Ideally candidates contribute to our research projects or even publish their results in scientific forums together with us. If you need feedback or assistance, we expect you to take initiative and contact your supervisor.

Research Proposal

After identifying and discussing a topic with your supervisor, the next step is to draft a research proposal (aka exposé). The proposal is a concise description of your work in running text (max. 3 pages excluding bibliography), possibly supported by meaningful tables or figures. The proposal is crucial for making expectations transparent. It basically serves as an agreement on the topic, which aligns all involved parties and minimizes misunderstandings.

Your research proposal should include the following information:

• Your understanding of the topic (problem statement)

• The status quo with references to academic literature (related work)

• Research question(s) and your planned approach and method

• Discussion of risks or ethical considerations, if necessary (and how to deal with them)

• A rough timeline with 2-3 non-trivial milestones

Please note that the above points also suggest a structure for your research proposal. When writing your research proposal, please define the topic as precisely as possible and also specify what is out of scope to manage expectations. Keep in mind that drafting a research proposal is an iterative process involving your supervisor. It may require some time and should already follow an academic style of writing. Your supervisor must accept your final proposal.

Current Topics (Working Title)

• Entropy Estimation of Channel Reciprocity-Based Key Generation
  Contact: Ghazal Bagheri
• Privacy Amplification for Channel Reciprocity-Based Key Generation
  Contact: Ghazal Bagheri
• Attack Analysis on Anonymized Streaming Data Using CASTLE
  Contact: Carolin Brunn
• Anonymization of Streaming Data in IoT Networks
  Contact: Carolin Brunn
• Design and Implementation of Hybrid Private Information Retrieval
  Contact: Stefan Köpsell
• Improving Security & Resilience of 5G by Trustworthy Virtualisation
  Contact: Stefan Köpsell
• Group Key Management for Layer 2 Tunneling
  Contact: Sebastian Rehms
• Quantifying Security through Specification
  Contact: Sebastian Rehms
• Model Based Security Analysis
  Kontakt: Sebastian Rehms
• Adaptive Athentication for Communication in Networks-on-Chip
  Contact: Elke Franz
• Anonymous Routing in Networks-on-Chip
  Contact: Elke Franz

• Attacking Anonymous Communication Networks (Tor, Loopix, Nym)
  Contact: Maximilian Weisenseel

• Privacy in the Internet of Things
  Contact: Maximilian Weisenseel

• Privacy and Utility in Distributed Systems
  Contact: Maximilian Weisenseel
• Exploring the feasibility of alternative anonymisation networks in the Lightning network
  Contact: Charmaine Ndolo
• Visualisation of consensus protocols in Federated Byzantine Agreement systems
  Contact: Charmaine Ndolo
• Anonymity as a Service - Multi Sources k-anonymity trough an Oblivious Data Aggregator
  Contact: Lukas Gehring

• How do horizontal joins of k-anonymized Data change different Utilitiy Measurements
  Contact: Lukas Gehring