Cybersecurity

Devices like smartphones and laptops have become indispensable in our daily lives. By using them, we share vast amounts of data, such as photos, personal information, and location details. Despite protective legislation, large tech companies have increasing control over how data is gathered and processed, expanding their power. TU Delft researchers Seda Gürses and Lilika Markatou are working to expose the practices of Big Tech and develop new privacy protocols and systems to curb this power and better protect users.

Scientific research is rarely performed by an individual scientist; it usually involves the work of an entire team of people. Besides this, some topics and challenges are so complex and multifaceted that they affect various faculties and call for multidisciplinary approaches. At TU Delft, a team of researchers and support staff have joined forces to tackle the issue of improving cybersecurity and detecting cybercrime. How do we keep the internet, and therefore Dutch and European society, safe?

De jaarlijkse Capture The Flag (CTF) competitie van de TU Delft schreef dit jaar geschiedenis als de grootste beginnersvriendelijke hackwedstrijd in Nederland. Het evenement bracht honderden studenten, tech-enthousiastelingen en nieuwkomers op het gebied van cybersecurity bij elkaar met een dag vol puzzels oplossen, hacken en leren op de campus van de TU Delft.

Ransomware attacks continue to wreak havoc across the globe, with public reports of total ransomware payments topping billions of dollars annually. While the use of cryptocurrency presents an avenue to understand the tactics of ransomware actors, to date published research has been constrained by relatively limited public datasets of ransomware payments. We present novel techniques to identify ransomware payments with low false positives, classifying nearly $700 million in previously-unreported ransomware payments.

Phishing attacks, which trick users into sharing private data, have been a major online security threat for years. According to a 2023 FBI report, it is the top digital crime type. Researchers from the Intelligent Systems department have collaborated with three European country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) to characterize phishing attacks, focusing on the Netherlands’ .nl, Belgium’s .be, and Ireland’s .ie. By understanding these patterns, the research aims to enhance security measures and protect internet users from phishing threats.

I am pleased to share that Kaitai Liang, a tenured faculty member of the Cybersecurity group, has been honored with the Distinguished Reviewer Award by ESORICS 2024.

TU Delft hosted the DBC Final Event on the 22nd of July. Dutch Blockchain Coalition was established in 2017 with a mission to increase both knowledge and use of blockchain in the Netherlands, thereby speeding up the decentralisation of digital infrastructure. At he final event, the DBC members presented their work and discussed the next steps. On behald of TU Delft, Prof.dr.ir. Inald Lagendijk gave the opening talk and Dr. Zeki Erkin presented the EU Septon Project, as an example of collaboration between academia and industry.

On the 18th of May 2024, six TU Delft student teams participated in the “VU CTF” hacking competition at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The TU Delft teams placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 9th, and 11th, winning the gold medal and dominating the leaderboard.

On the 20th of April 2024, TU Delft students participated in the national “Challenge The Cyber” hacking competition in Eindhoven, and TU Delft Computer Science students Azra Ocak, Iancu Popp, Ksawery Radziwiłowicz, and Per Schrijver won the first prize in the junior division!