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Welcome to CISPA

The CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security is a national Big Science institution within the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers. Our research explores all aspects of Information Security.

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FOCUS ON RESEARCH

CISPA is committed to the highest academic standards and scientific excellence. It is a world-class research environment that provides its researchers with extensive resources. As the world's leading research center for cybersecurity, CISPA is an exceptional place for the world's best talent and researchers.


DEVELOPING FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES

Cybersecurity is a young and dynamic field. As Helmholtz Center for Information Security, CISPA is dedicated to cutting-edge foundational research and innovative application-oriented research in cybersecurity, privacy, and artificial intelligence.

CISPA LATEST

Study reveals vulnerability of metaverse platforms to cyber attacks

CISPA researcher Andrea Mengascini conducted a study on metaverse platforms and discovered significant risks in terms of a lack of privacy.

No coffee, no research

No coffee, no ideas; no ideas, no research. Therefore: no coffee, no research! In this interview series, our researchers answer the most pressing questions about IT security and artificial intelligence over a hot cup of coffee – and, admittedly, sometimes tea. Grab a hot beverage of your choice and join us!

CISPA INSIGHTS

 

PODCAST

That text was way too long and you couldn't bother reading it? In TL;DR, we talk to our researchers about their work on cybersecurity and AI, trying to ask them all the questions that our listeners will be asking themselves about, too.

Have fun listening!

 

VIDEO

Nothing moves more than movies. Which is why we produce our own videos to showcase our research topics but also CISPA life in general. Learn more about our people, our events, and the entire CISPA universe. Moving in so many ways! 

Have fun watching!

 

ZINE

CISPA Zine: composed of 'CISPA' and 'magazine', derived from the idea of the 'fanzine'. Fanzines are small and often folded magazines created by fans for fans. Published quarterly, the CISPA Zine is for all those interested in our center. 

Have fun reading!

 

NO COFFEE, NO RESEARCH

No coffee, no ideas; no ideas, no research. Therefore: no coffee, no research! In this interview series, our researchers answer the most pressing questions about IT security and artificial intelligence over a hot cup of coffee

Have fun watching!

CISPA EVENTS

FEM FUTURE FORUM

Looking back on the Fem Future Forum

Hosting its first Fem Future Forum, the CISPA  highlighted the importance of female role models in the tech industry. Prominent speakers from the startup scene, business, and research spoke about their careers in different STEM professions. The discussions addressed gender-specific challenges and inequalities as much as forward-looking solutions. Students, researchers, and entrepreneurs from computer science, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence were invited to learn about startup strategies and business models while building valuable networks.

Aug 4, 2025
to Aug 8, 2025
"Trustworthy AI - Secure and Safe Foundation Models"

PAST EVENTS

Nov 28, 2024
to Nov 28, 2024
fem Future Forum - The XX Factor for Science and Startups
Oct 31, 2024
to Dec 19, 2024
Cysec Club by CISPA Cysec Lab
Oct 24, 2024, 9:00 AM
Holiday Workshop by CISPA Cysec Lab (taught in German)

RESEARCH AREAS

ALGORITHMIC FOUNDATIONS AND CRYPTOGRAPHY

In this highly connected world, graph problems are at the algorithmic heart of many computational challenges.

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Trust- Worthy INFORMATION Processing

This research area strives to improve privacy and to develop new frameworks for efficient and secure data handling.

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Reliable Security Guarantees

The fragile security of today's IT infrastructures is the result of an ongoing arms race between attackers and defenders. Formal methods offer a way out of this arms race. Based on mathematically precise models, they can systematically eliminate entire classes of attack strategies.

 

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Threat Detection & Defenses

The defense mechanisms of the future must be able to reliably detect, predict, and explain both known and novel attacks, while also being able to cope with evasion techniques such as obfuscation.

 

Discover more

Secure connected & Mobile Systems

Critical infrastructures such as our energy supply and communication networks are under constant threat. Vulnerable computer systems can be exploited, spied on, and sabotaged. We explore how mobile and autonomous systems can be designed and implemented in a secure manner.

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Empirical & Behavioral SECURITY

We need security solutions that actually work in practice, not only in theory. Achieving this is not possible without empirical research insights. We focus on the ways in which people and technology interact.

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CISPA CAREERS

PhD at CISPA

CISPA offers full-time positions to PhD students. Cooperating with our research-group leaders and lecturers, PhD students have the opportunity to acquire new techniques and methodologies and receive support for their research projects.

CAREER PATHS AT CISPA

Promoting early-career scientists is part and parcel of our identity as a world-leading research center. PhD students who are enrolled at one of the universities we cooperate with are also eligible for the position of research assistant at CISPA. It is our goal is to train outstanding researchers and to support them in all stages of their scientific careers.

Needless to say, CISPA also offers exciting career opportunities in the non-scientific sector, for example in administration and corporate communications.

CISPA SPIRIT

CISPA is a great place to be for all our researchers and staff. At our research center, everybody is on first-name terms and (almost) everybody likes to play table soccer after work. And, needless to say, we all enjoy a little chitchat in the hallway. 

And because nothing connects people like food and fun, we often come together for a lunch break, an after-work drink, and leisure activities.

Visit our Instagram channel to feel the CISPA spirit!