Scientists:	Kilian Glas, Dr. Holger Kinkelin, Filip Rezabek, Richard von Seck, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Georg Carle
Since:	01.01.2017

Motivation

Blockchains are one of the most interesting and relevant technologies that were created in recent years. Their initial purpose has been serving as a non-erasable and tamper-proof ledger for decentralized payment systems. Besides this application area, Blockchain technology can be used in other types of networked systems as a trusted building block comparable to a secure element in computer hardware.

The purpose of this interest group is to foster research and collaboration with industry, other research organizations and also with students at TUM. Our mission is to investigate how Blockchain technology can help us to build trustworthy and secure networked services. This includes research on federated identity management across different institutions, and secure and accountable configuration of networked devices.

Blockchain related teaching activities

Our chair has teaches Blockchain related topics in a variety of courses. Below you can find a short summary of the most interesting courses.

Besides, we are offering various theses and research projects. For that, navigate to websites of individual researchers.

Lab Course iLab 2

The iLab: You set the Focus! (iLab2) is a practical lab course offered by our chair for bachelor and master students. Aside from selected network topics like ipv6, bgp or smart space orchestration students also design their own lab content for future generations. As part of this process a Blockchain lab was created. It teaches students the basic principles of Blockchains and cryptocurrencies. In the practical hands on part they can play around with an actual Blockchain implementation (multichain). They discover how proof of work and mining works and what happens when two Blockchains segments of multiple size merge.

Seminars Future Internet (FI) and Innovative Internet Technologies and Mobile Communication (IITM)

We are continuously offering seminar topics on Blockchains and Distributed Ledger Technologies in our seminars "Innovative Internettechnologien und Mobilkommunikation" (IITM) and "Future Internet" (FI).

Peer-to-Peer Systems and Security

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems provide an alternative architecture for networking applications. A core assumption of P2P systems is that services are provided in a highly or completely distributed manner. This contrasts with traditional client-server architectures where servers are centralized and are thus deemed privileged or essential components. Extensive decentralization in P2P systems results in new advantages and disadvantages. Without centralized components, fault tolerance of systems can be increased and former performance bottlenecks can be avoided. When designed carefully, P2P systems provide better scaling properties by e.g. distributing workload in the network. Moreover, due to the absence of centralized components, P2P systems are good candidates for providing extensive privacy properties to its users. Naturally, as we thread away from centralization in P2P systems, issues arise which could be efficiently solved by having centralized control. A prominent issue is that of attackers, who appear as benevolent peers but have malicious intent. This course serves to provide you the knowledge about existing P2P protocols and methods on how to enhance efficiency without sacrificing scalability and security.

Network Security

This lecture is an introduction to the field of network security and its fundamental topics. We define security goals and threats and introduce firewalls and cryptographic operations. This knowledge is used further as a starting point for the design of secure networks. We present modern security protocols used in network protocols and architectures as well as vulnerabilities in existing systems. Lastly, the lecture provides an introduction to privacy in computer networks.

News

• 02.07.2024 - Richard von Seck presented our work titled "On the Impact of Network Transport Protocols on Leader-Based Consensus Communication" at BSCI 2024, awarded as a Best Student Paper Award.
• 20.05.2024 - We organized the second TUM Blockchain Salon on the 16 and 17 May at the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS). For more details, navigate to: Blockchain Salon.
• 13.05.2023 - We organized the first TUM Blockchain Salon on the 11 and 12 May at the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS). For more details, navigate to: Blockchain Salon.
• 17.03.2023 - Filip Rezabek presented our work titled "TSN Experiments Using COTS Hardware and Open-Source Solutions: Lessons Learned" at PerFail workshop collacated with PerCom 2023, awarded as a Best Paper Award.
• 17.12.2022 - Richard von Seck presented our work titled "BFT-Blocks: The Case for Analyzing Networking in Byzantine Fault Tolerant Consensus" at NCA 2022.
• 31.10.2022 - Filip Rezabek presented our work titled "PTP Security Measures and their Impact on Synchronization Accuracy" at CNSM 2022.
• 01.08.2022 - Marks a start of the ACE-SUPPRA in collaboration with Algorand Foundation. For more details, navigate to: ACE-SUPPRA.
• 01.04.2022 - VITAF project succesfully completed.
• 24.04.2020 - Holger Kinkelin presented our work titled "Hardening X.509 Certificate Issuance using Distributed Ledger Technology" at NOMS 2018, IEEE/IFIP DISSECT Workshop
• 28.02.2020 - Filip Rezabek defended his thesis titled "A Fault-Proof and Tamper-Resistant Certificate Issuance Process". Congratulations!
• 01.01.2019 - Marks a start of the BMBF VITAF project. For more details, navigate to: VITAF.
• 04.06.2018 - Valentin Hauner defended his highly successful thesis on "Trustworthy Configuration Management". Congratulations!
• 15.05.2018 - We are happy to announce our upcoming research project VITAF ("Vertrauenswürdige IT für autonomoes Fahren").
• 23.04.2018 - Holger Kinkelin presented our work in progress paper on "Trustworthy Configuration Management" at NOMS 2018, IEEE/IFIP DOMINOS Workshop
• 12.12.2017 - Our students Valentin Hauner and Hendrik Leppelsack explain how Hyperledger Fabric works and give a hands on session

Contact

If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to contact us:

• Filip Rezabek
• Kilian Glas
• Richard von Seck