Implementation Security is dedicated to ensuring physical security, with a particular focus on vulnerabilities that arise in the implementation of cryptographic algorithms and systems. This research explores attack models in which adversaries exploit physical properties and vulnerabilities of hardware to breach security mechanisms. For example, side-channel analysis attacks exploit unintentional information leaks such as power consumption, electromagnetic emissions, or timing variations to extract sensitive data. Similarly, fault injection attacks deliberately introduce faults into a system to expose and exploit vulnerabilities.

The research focus of the chair is on the security of implementations. A large part of our research is dedicated to hardware security, protection against physical attacks (side-channel analysis and fault-injection attacks), security analysis of real-world systems particularly internet of things, and efficient hardware and software implementation of cryptographic primitives. This includes various implementation platforms like ASICs, FPGAs, and micro-processors. The chair offers courses for both Bachelor and Master study programs in IT-Security as well Computer Science/Engineering. The chair typically consists of about 8 research assistants including PhD students and PostDocs as well as often external visiting researchers.