I am Associate Professor in Empirical Security and Internet Evolution in the Design and Analysis of Communication Systems Group at the University of Twente.
My research interests revolve around understanding and improving the Internet for everyone, with a particular focus on security aspects. Most recently, I have been working on
I view my work through the lens of real-world implications. The tech is not always what matters—it’s the embedding in our world that makes it meaningful. Hence, I work with other disciplines and industry alike to make the Internet a safer, more secure, and altogether more interesting and useful place.
2021-03: My intake of Bachelor and Master students for the first half of 2021 is now complete, and I cannot accept more students - sorry.
2021-02: I am going to teach Network Systems this year. Our proposal to establish a new course, Empirical Security Analysis & Engineering, has also been accepted by the faculty and will run for the first time in Q1/2021.
2020-10: Our paper “A Responsible Internet to increase trust in the digital world”, which outlines ideas of our research agenda, has been published in the Journal of Network and Systems management.
2020-06-25: Our paper “Tracking the deployment of TLS 1.3 on the Web: A story of experimentation and centralization” has been accepted to SIGCOMM CCR for July 2020. TLDR: TLS 1.3 is being deployed faster than any previous security protocol, and this is largely due to giant corporations with control over both client and server endpoints experimenting with it and then rolling it out at scale. Plus, Cloudflare’s dominance in the domain front-ending market.
Before joining the University of Twente, I was Lecturer in Networks and Security at the University of Sydney (that’s Asst. Prof. in other systems), Australia. Until 2016, I was a Researcher at NICTA (later Data61), also in Sydney, where I worked on network security and was part of the Security Business Team.
I hold a PhD from Technical University of Munich. I did both my post-grad and under-grad studies at Eberhard Karls University, Tuebingen, one of Germany’s classic universities.
A CV can be found here.
If you want to do a PhD with me, please contact me by email. Please read the admission criteria carefully and take the time to find out what I am working on. Have a look at our research group, too.
Prospective PhD students need a strong background in computer security and networks. I ask that students are able to outline a research idea and how it advances current knowledge and the state of the art. Please consult my list of publications to understand my interests better.
Once you are sure you meet the criteria and have a good idea of what I am working on, please do contact me. You can start out on your research proposal if you already know what you want to do, but I am also happy to answer emails about possible directions. Please do not forget to include a transcript and CV in your email.
Note: I often get generic emails where students are willing to work in pretty much any area, where it is clear the sender’s interests have no relationship to mine, or where the admission criteria are clearly not met. These show no serious commitment and I delete them.
One of the best parts of being an academic is working with students who share my passion for security. I generally offer a range of topics in the area of security and network security. Open topics can be found here.
I currently work with and advise the following students:
Daniel Šatcs - blockchain measurement, Thomas Stouten - blockchain measurement, Benedikt Brandner - blockchain measurement, Eve Martin-Jones - blockchain measurement, Hugh Chan - blockchain measurement, Ilya Nikolaev - blockchain security, Victory Wang - Internet security, Jonathan Yan - software security, Andrew Yang - software security, Joshua Murray - blockchain security, Rabia Chaudry - performance of cloud technology, Gordon Draper - blockchain security, Nyan Thit Lwin - blockchain security, Michael Gravenor - Internet measurement, Jakob Bachhuber - email security, Dario Banfi - Multipath TCP
I (co-)teach the following courses in 2021: