iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 29/09/2026

From Waterloo to Toronto and Montréal: our CISPA delegation connected with researchers and key players across Canada’s AI and cybersecurity ecosystem. The trip offered new perspectives & was an important first step in exploring future connections between the Canadian and German research communities.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 28/09/2026

🏆 September brought several awards to CISPA: Dr. Marcel Böhme received an ACM Distinguished Paper Award, Dr. Franziska Boehnisch & Andrea Ruffing were named STEM Ambassadors Saarland, and Dr. Adam Dziedzic & Dr. Franziska Boehnisch received the Balzert Prize for Digital Didactics. 👏

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 21/09/2026

What happens when one AI agent tries to steer an entire group? 🤖 CISPA researcher Samira Abedini and her colleagues show how stubbornness, trust, and network structure can turn collaboration between AI agents into a security risk. More: cispa.de/en/ai-agents

cispa.de

When Stubbornness Becomes a Security Problem: How AI Agents Can Manipulate Others

Samira Abedini is researching how individual AI agents can influence the decisions of an entire group.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 18/09/2026

👋 Welcome to CISPA! We are very pleased to welcome four new Faculty to CISPA: Dr. @mboehme.bsky.social, Dr. @ggarbacea.bsky.social, Dr. Pierre Edward Meyer, and Dr. @maximilianewindl.bsky.social. It’s great to have you here—here’s to everything we’ll accomplish together. 🚀

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 11/09/2026

🔐 WordPress plugins are a major attack surface — and traditional web fuzzers can struggle with their complex execution paths. CISPA researcher Matteo Leonelli and his colleagues developed THEMIS, a context-aware grey-box fuzzer tailored to WordPress plugins. Read the full story: cispa.de/en/themis

cispa.de

THEMIS: New Fuzzing Tool for Finding Security Vulnerabilities in WordPress Plugins

CISPA researcher Matteo Leonelli introduces THEMIS, a new fuzzing framework designed to uncover security vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 07/09/2026

Congratulations to @krikamol.bsky.social on becoming tenured CISPA-Faculty! 🎉 In our interview, he talks about “Rational Intelligence,” AI that knows the limits of its knowledge, and why tenure gives him the freedom to pursue ambitious research questions. 👉 Read now: cispa.de/en/krikamol-tenure

cispa.de

Krikamol Muandet Successfully Completes His Tenure Review

What does it mean for an AI system to act rationally in a world full of uncertainty? This question is at the heart of Krikamol Muandet’s research. Following his successful tenure evaluation, he is now...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 27/08/2026

🔎In the latest episode of CISPA TL;DR, Samira Abedini explains how a model originally developed to describe human opinion formation can surprisingly well explain how LLM agents influence each other—and where to find multi-agent AI systems in the real world today. 🎧Tune in: cispa.de/en/tldr-50

cispa.de

Multi-Agent AI Systems with Samira Abedini

Episode 50 of CISPA TL;DR is out now!

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 26/08/2026

What a week for usable security and privacy! 🔐✨ SOUPS 2026 brought the community together in Hannover for four days of inspiring research, lively discussions, new connections and plenty of exchange. We were proud to support SOUPS 2026 as a main sponsor. Thanks to everyone who made this possible.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 12/08/2026

Next stop: Baltimore! 🇺🇸 From August 12–14, the security research community is coming together for the 35th USENIX Security Symposium in Baltimore—and CISPA researchers are part of the program with several papers. Find the full list of our USENIX Security 2026 papers here: cispa.de/en/usenix-2026

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 07/08/2026

Ali Mustafa presents LEAKYLINKS, the first systematic study of how public URL scanning feeds can unintentionally expose sensitive access links. The study shows that privacy risks may emerge as an unintended consequence of combining otherwise beneficial security mechanisms. cispa.de/en/leaky-links

cispa.de

When Security Becomes a Risk Factor

A new study by Ali Mustafa shows how the interaction of modern security mechanisms can inadvertently expose sensitive information.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 04/08/2026

Paris, Vienna, Stockholm, Munich, Barcelona, Warsaw – and finally, home. The CISPA European Cybersecurity & AI Hackathon Championship wrapped up its first edition with a Grand Finale at CISPA. A journey worth watching. youtu.be/BXij1Vmycp4

youtu.be

It's a wrap - the first CISPA European Cybersecurity & AI Hackathon Championship

YouTube video by CISPA

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 03/08/2026

Since 2025, Nina Altmaier has been strengthening CISPA as Head of Alumni Engagement. While completing her PhD, she began establishing our alumni program. Now, she is building a strong network that connects alumni, researchers, and the CISPA community. Read more: www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-ques...

linkedin.com

5 Questions to Nina Altmaier

Since December 2025, Nina Altmaier has been strengthening the CISPA–Helmholtz Center for Information Security as Head of Alumni Engagement. While finishing up her PhD in digital media at the Universit...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 30/07/2026

Whether in the cinema🍿 or through exchange with the next generation of scientists🎓 – July showed the many different ways research at CISPA can be experienced. Thank you to everyone involved and all visitors who made these events possible.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 28/07/2026

Congrats to CISPA-Faculty Prof. Cas Cremers, Prof. David Basin, Dr. Benedikt Schmidt, and Dr. Simon Meier on receiving the 2026 CSF Test-of-Time Award for their 2012 paper „Automated Analysis of Diffie-Hellman Protocols and Advanced Security Properties” 👏 More: cispa.de/en/test-of-time-award

cispa.de

Test-of-Time Award for CISPA-Faculty Cas Cremers and Colleagues from ETH Zurich

Honor for Sustained Scientific Impact at the IEEE Computer Security Foundations Symposium

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 22/07/2026

After six regional qualifiers across Europe, the first CISPA European Cybersecurity & AI Hackathon Championship reached its conclusion in early July. 🎥 Watch some of the highlights from the championship final in the video below. youtu.be/RIb8MHICsPY

youtu.be

The Grand Finale of the CISPA European Cybersecurity & AI Hackathon Championship

YouTube video by CISPA

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 20/07/2026

CISPA Researcher Warns Against One-Size-Fits-All Age Verification Online We spoke with Dr. Wouter Lueks about the findings of his recent study on age assurance technologies, their effectiveness, and trade-offs for privacy and civil liberties. 🔗 Read the full interview: cispa.de/en/interview-lueks

cispa.de

Conversation with Dr. Wouter Lueks

CISPA researcher Dr. Wouter Lueks has assessed effectiveness, side-effects and acceptance of age assurance technologies (AAT).

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 15/07/2026

Can removing images of children from AI training datasets prevent text-to-image models from generating CSAM? New research by CISPA-Faculty Dr. @ana-mariacretu.bsky.social shows that dataset filtering provides only limited protection & can be circumvented. cispa.de/en/cretu-dataset-filtering

cispa.de

Dataset Filtering Provides Only Limited Protection Against CSAM Generation in Text-to-Image Models

CISPA-Faculty Dr. Ana-Maria Cretu investigated whether removing images of children from training datasets is an effective method.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 09/07/2026

We're ready for ICML 2026! 🚀 From July 6–11, we'll be in Seoul at the 43rd International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2026), where our researchers will present numerous papers. Find an overview of all our ICML 2026 papers here: cispa.de/en/icml-2026

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 06/07/2026

What a great week for the wireless security community🔒📡 CISPA had the pleasure of hosting the 19. @acm.org WiSec 2026 in Saarbrücken. Special thanks go to our CISPA Faculty, Mridula Singh and Nils Ole Tippenhauer, who served as the General Chairs of WiSec. We were delighted to welcome the community!

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 03/07/2026

Team from Sweden Takes the Title at the First Hackathon Championship After 24 hours of coding and scientific creativity, the first-ever CISPA European Cybersecurity & AI Hackathon Championship has come to a successful close. Congratulations to the winning teams! cispa.de/en/hackathon...

cispa.de

Team from Sweden Takes the Title at the First CISPA European Cybersecurity and AI Hackathon Championship

The first CISPA European Cybersecurity & AI Hackathon Championship concluded today with a ceremonial awards presentation at the Ingobertus Festival.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 17/06/2026

Inside the Research Ethics Office at CISPA: In our latest interview, Thorsten Helfer and Jannik Zeiser talk about their academic roots in philosophy, their role and remit at the Research Ethics Office, and the challenges of applied ethics. Find the interview at cispa.de/en/interview...

cispa.de

"Ethical responsibility is an integral part of academic freedom": In conversation with Thorsten Helfer and Jannik Zeiser

Since July 2024, Thorsten Helfer and Jannik Zeiser have been establishing and expanding the Research Ethics Office at CISPA. As trained philosophers, both enjoy delving into the challenges of applied ...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 12/06/2026

How promising—and dangerous—is AI in Cybersecurity? This question was discussed in the workshop “AI in Cybersecurity: Offensive Capabilities, Impacts, and Response Strategies” organised by CISPA-Faculty Mario Fritz. Recordings of the talks are now online! Have a look: youtu.be/waqc5HA676U

youtu.be

Workshop "AI in Cybersecurity:Offensive Capabilities, Impacts & Response Strategies" – Introduction

YouTube video by ELSA – European Lighthouse on Secure and Safe AI

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 11/06/2026

What happens when AI models increasingly train on AI-generated content? Researchers fear a phenomenon known as Model Collapse, where information can gradually be lost over time. Louis Kerner developed BitMark to help keep AI-generated images identifiable. 🎧 More in the latest CISPA TL;DR episode.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 09/06/2026

CISPA now has its very own Research Ethics Review Board! It’s a resource for all our researchers and provides a structured process for the reflection of ethical challenges. Read more about how we approach research ethics at cispa.de/en/research-...

cispa.de

A Unicorn in Cybersecurity

At CISPA, two trained philosophers dedicate themselves to the discussion and assessment of ethics issues in cybersecurity research. Thorsten Helfer and Jannik Zeiser have been tasked with establishing...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 05/06/2026

CISPA-Faculty Mario Fritz has been appointed to the Scientific Panel of the EU AI Office. A newly established body, the Scientific Panel brings together world-leading experts to support the implementation of the EU AI Act. More at cispa.de/en/fritz-eu-...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 03/06/2026

More than 45 international organization representatives visited CISPA to explore cutting-edge cybersecurity research. The delegation accompanied President Steinmeier during his visit to Saarland. From satellite security to cryptography, and tech transfer, the visit sparked valuable global exchange.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 01/06/2026

AI labels seem to be the preferred way to foster trust and create transparency. But can they really deliver on that promise? In a recent study, CISPA researcher Sandra Höltervennhoff found that the effects of AI labels are ambivalent. Read more here: cispa.de/user-study-ai-labels

cispa.de

Transparency Is Not the Same as Truth: What Platforms Need to Consider When Labeling AI-Generated Images

A CISPA study examines how users perceive so-called AI labels and what impact these labels have on the credibility of information.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 29/05/2026

Whether in research, transfer, or administration – May once again showed: CISPA is shaped by the people who make our research center what it is. 💙

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 23/05/2026

And here’s some more good news: Congratulations also to Thorsten Eisenhofer on receiving a Distinguished Reviewer Award at the 47th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy 🎉

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 22/05/2026

Strong results for CISPA at the 47th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy 🏆 Multiple papers and contributions were recognized with awards at the leading conference for security and privacy research. Congratulations to all involved on this international success! More info: cispa.de/en/sandp-2026

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 21/05/2026

We keep pushing AI systems to perform better, but do we know their limits? CISPA-Faculty Dr. Andrew Lowy researches what ML can achieve under privacy and fairness constraints and where further optimization stops making sense. Want to learn more? Visit: cispa.de/en/andrew-lowy

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 20/05/2026

Today at @sp.ieee-security.org, CISPA researcher Marcos Bajo presents “Segmentation Fault Oriented Programming (SFOP)”, a novel code-reuse attack that bypasses Intel CET in Linux systems, spawning segmentation faults in sequence. More at cispa.de/en/sfop

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 19/05/2026

At @sp.ieee-security.org, CISPA researcher Apostolos Chatzianagnostou presents PLaTypus, a new protection layer for Intel CET that restricts unsafe cross-library control flows used in modern code-reuse attacks. More: cispa.de/en/platypus

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 18/05/2026

From processor vulnerabilities and AI side-channel attacks to privacy risks in URL scanning services: CISPA researchers are presenting 14 papers at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (IEEE S&P 2026) in San Francisco. More: cispa.de/en/sandp-2026

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 11/05/2026

Six cities. Hundreds of participants. One European hackathon community. 🌍💻 The CISPA European Hackathon Championship wrapped up in Warsaw. Students coded, built & solved 24-hour sessions. Now it’s time for the next stop—the Grand Hackathon Finale at CISPA! 🚀 Full recap: cispa.de/en/news-and-...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 08/05/2026

Where the future meets history: we’re going to Rome! 🇮🇹 The historic city of Rome is hosting Eurocrypt 2026 on May 10 - May 14. As every year, CISPA researchers are part of the conference program with several papers. Find the full list of our Eurocrypt 2026 papers here: cispa.de/en/research/...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 07/05/2026

👀 Research insights: A CISPA study highlights privacy and security risks of on-body interaction techniques and presents guidelines to help prevent harm. Read more: cispa.de/en/on-body-interaction-techniques

cispa.de

Future Risks: Privacy and Security in On-Body Interaction Techniques

Which risks arise when body-worn mini computers become part of everyday life? This is the question that CISPA researcher Dañiel Gerhardt has investigated.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 29/04/2026

DNS is trustworthy—but there is a semantic gap we still need to address. That was the key takeaway from Michael Bailey’s recent talk at CISPA’s Distinguished Lecture Series. More in the video. Want to learn more? Check out all of our DLS events - cispa.de/en/news-and-...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 28/04/2026

No fewer than two scientific papers were honored this month 🏆 – a strong sign of the international visibility and impact of our excellent research. Congratulations to dear Sandra and dear @andreaszeller.bsky.social!

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 27/04/2026

How can we make AI more sustainable – and digital systems demonstrably secure? These are exactly the questions explored in the latest edition of our CISPA Inaugural Lectures. Want to learn more? youtube.com/playlist?lis...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 23/04/2026

Tech talks and Brazilian vibes: we’re in Rio! 🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro is hosting the 14th International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) from today until April 27. Researchers from CISPA are presenting an impressive 20 papers. Find our ICLR 2026 papers here: cispa.de/en/iclr-2026

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 22/04/2026

For everyone who feels connected to the center, our shop now offers a selection of CISPA items for everyday life – far more than just stylish clothing. A piece of CISPA for your everyday life. 💙 Discover our shop: cispa.de/shop www.youtube.com/shorts/zO_0J...

youtube.com

Our CISPA Shop is online

YouTube video by CISPA

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 20/04/2026

We’re delighted to announce that Michael Bailey from the Georgia Institute of Technology will be giving a talk in our “Distinguished Lecture Series”. Professor Bailey will be speaking on "Trust and the Semantic Gap in DNS" at 2pm on Monday, April 27. More info: cispa.de/en/dls-bailey

cispa.de

Michael Bailey from the Georgia Institute of Technology

Michael Bailey will give a talk on Monday, April 27 2026, at 2 pm.

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 15/04/2026

📢 Deep Dive into CISPA Research: CISPA Display 2026 Edition Released The yearbook highlights the wide-ranging research conducted by CISPA researchers – from CSS-based user tracking to AI-driven drug development. ➡️ Explore more: cispa.de/en/cispa-dis...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 15/04/2026

CISPA taking part in the Helmholtz Earth Week! 🌍 📅 April 20 🎤 Talks by Dr. Jannik Zeiser & Dr. Wouter Lueks 👉 More info in the link – we’d love for you to join us!

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 13/04/2026

Sun, sweat and sleep deprivation—our hackathon in Spain was intense ☀️💻 Congrats to the teams Chorrico de Limon, Team MalagAI, and Team IPC Victory Tasks, who won a ticket to the final of the CISPA European AI & Cybersecurity Hackathon Championship. 👉 cispa.de/en/hackathon...

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 12/04/2026

Congrats to the winning teams of the fifth regional CISPA European Cybersecurity & AI Hackathon Championship. 🥇 1st place: Team CDL Chorrico de Limon 🥈 2nd place: Team MalagAI 🥉 3rd place: Team IPC Victory Also, congrats to all participating teams for 24 hours of focus, creativity, and grit. 💻

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CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security @cispa.de · 12/04/2026

The clock’s ticking down at the Barcelona hackathon! Tired faces, empty coffee cups, and all-night coding – teams at TecnoCampus Mataró-Maresme are gearing up for final presentations at 12:30. Who will claim the crown and head to the CISPA grand finale in St. Ingbert?

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