Theses / Projects

Current thesis / project offerings

Unfortunately I cannot describe possible topics here, as several of my ideas were ‘copied’ in the past. Thus, if you are interested in doing your thesis / project in the area of cybersecurity / digital forensics, please feel free to contact me via email. You can either work on a topic suggested by me or present your own idea.

Currently supervised PhD students (working titles):

  • Céline Vanini (1st, since 9/2022) – Event reconstruction
  • Gaëtan Michelet (1st, since 9/2021) – Automation for digital forensics
  • Jenny Ottmann (2nd, since 4/2021) – Bringing science to mobile device forensics
  • Thomas Göbel (2nd, since 4/2021) – Data synthesis for digital forensics

Successfully completed – congratulations!

PhD

  • Martin Karresand – Digital Forensic Usage of the Inherent Structures in NTFS (06/2023, 1st opponent)
  • Miguel Martín Pérez – Effectiveness of Similarity Digest Algorithms for Binary Code Similarity in Memory Forensic Analysis (03/2022, committee member)

Masterthesis

  • Sarah Lacour – Characteristics and impacts of Artificial Intelligence-related incidents on the digital forensic investigation (09/2022 – 06/2023)
  • Charlotte Merceron – Electronic Signatures in PDF Documents: An analysis of embedded artefacts in PDFs generated by scanners and selected software (02/2022 – 01/2023)
  • Léo Giannardi – Windows Server forensics and incident response for the ProxyShell Exploit (10/2021 – 06/2022).
  • Leo Irudayam – Integrating Blockchain Technology into a upper secondary school curriculum (02/2021 – 06/2021).
  • Karoline Leo – Bringing Cybersecurity into High School Curricula: Gender-based Differences in the Perception and Understanding of Cybersecurity (02/2021 – 06/2021).
  • Stephen Niemann – Challenges and Opportunities for Consumer Cybersecurity Insurances (02/2021 – 06/2021).
  • Jan Huck – Ransomware countermeasures in the extended Rhine valley A comparative analysis of companies’ implemented ransomware strategies (02/2020 – 06/2020)*.
  • Vikram Harichandran – Approximate matching for Template detection (05/2016 – 10/2017).
  • Lorenz Liebler – Approximate matching for malware detection in memory (03/2016 – 09/2016)*.
  • Tobias Huppertz: An indexing approach for approximate matching using Bloom filters (08/2014 – 02/2015).
  • Vikas Gupta: File fragment detection on network traffic using similarity hashing (01/2013 – 06/2013)*.
  • Simon Thurner: Methods for identification of encryption data and its application in digital forensics (08/2012 – 02/2013).
  • Tim Völpel: Forensic-Chatlog-Parser (02/2012 – 08/2012).
  • Knut Petter Astebøl: mvHash  – a new approach for fuzzy hashing (01/2012 – 07/2012)*.
  • Jesse Beckingham: Security analysis of sdhash (08/2011 – 03/2012)*.

Bachelorthesis

  • Samuele Mombelli – FAIRness of Metadata in the Computer Forensic Reference DataSet Portal (11/2022-05/2023).
  • Romain Vuillemier – Identifying personal identifiable information (11/2022-05/2023).
  • Loris Vaccaro – Overview of Explainable AI and Digital Forensics (11/2022-05/2023).
  • Dounia Challandes – Timestamp Tampering Protection (11/2022 – 05/2023).
  • Sofya Yokoyama – Anonymization of data within Digital Forensics (11/2021 – 05/2021).
  • Alexia Schmid – Cryptocurrencies usage in illegal financial activities and money laundering : emerging tendencies, impact and countermeasure (11/2021 – 05/2021).
  • Gaëlle Barth – Les méthodes de Géolocalisation d’un Appareil de Téléphonie mobile (11/2021 – 05/2021).
  • Florin Schädler – Der Einfluss von App-Berechtigungsanfragen auf nutzergenerierte Ratings und Rezensionen (02/2020 – 05/2020).
  • Dario Cundari: Software tools for testing similarity preserving algorithms (03/2012 – 07/2012).
  • Georg Ziroff: Approaches for similarity preserving hashing (08/2011 – 02/2012)*.

Projects / independent research

  • David Palmbach: Artifacts for detecting timestamp manipulation in NTFS on Windows and their reliability (2019, Masterproject)*
  • Victoria Oliveira, Kyle Pinder, Louis Notarino, Cinthya Grajeda, Kevin Gonzalez: Business Intelligence Dashboard (2016, Senior project with DocuWare)
  • Joseph Bisch, Kyle Combs, Ardian Caban, Nicholas Wereszczak: Personal Cloud Storage (2016, Senior project)
  • Benjamin Beisel: Analysis of URL-based image exchange from Android smartphone messenger ooVoo (2015, independent research, collaboration with Hochschule Darmstadt).
  • Mike Yang: CAPIL: Component-API Linkage for Android Malware Detection (2015, master project).
  • Justin Labrecque, William Putnam, Michael Barone, Viet Le and Chris Harris: iNodeKey – An Innovative Approach To Securing Data (2015, senior project).
  • Benjamin Baylis: Nutritional Tracker Mobile App (2015, senior project).

* Works marked with a star was published in a peer reviewed journal / conference and is listed in publication section.