Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) technology enables high spatial resolution wireless jamming

Twelve Max Planck researchers were appointed between January 2024 and 2025. Their research areas are as diverse as their scientific backgrounds

The share of women in leadership positions at the Max Planck Society continues to grow

In a European comparison, the MPG is in second place

Researchers analyze disinformation in social media and develop ways to promote facts and fair dialogue online

As a child, Meeyoung “Mia” Cha had a dream: she wanted to be an astrophysicist. But her path took a different turn. After a challenging time at school, she decided not to reach for the stars, but to pursue computer science instead. Today, as a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy she studies how artificial intelligence and social media are changing society.

Attacks on software not only create billions of dollars in damage, but also threaten the privacy of users. Cybercriminals infiltrate programs through security holes. Marcel Böhme and his team at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy have undertaken the task of closing entry points to attackers – and their approach has even caught the attention of companies such as Google.

It’s a threatening scenario for online communications: the arrival of powerful quantum computers will make current encryption techniques vulnerable overnight. Peter Schwabe, Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, is therefore developing methods of post-quantum cryptography with international partners. Four such processes are now being standardized by the National Institute for Standards and Technology in the USA – Peter Schwabe was involved in the design of three of them.

Becoming a Max Planck Director via “secondchance” education is probably something of an exception. But that is precisely what happened in the case of Christof Paar, one of the founders of the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum, where his work now includes tracking down hardware Trojans on computer chips.

Data-driven systems underpin modern digital platforms. While enhancing user experience through personalization, they collect vast amounts of data, generating privacy and other societal risks. The sociotechnical nature of these systems demands effective governance and regulation efforts. Yet, bridging the technological and legal realities often proves challenging. Foundational and interdisciplinary research in computing helps forge the path toward meaningful data protection compliance in data-driven systems

The United Nations acknowledges the existence of approximately 13.400 nuclear weapons. To ensure that these weapons are not misused, continuous monitoring is required. However, current methods of surveillance such as CCTV and physical inspections are not meeting security and privacy requirements. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in collaboration with colleagues from Princeton University, Harvard University, PHYSEC GmbH, Ruhr University Bochum, Technical University Berlin and the University of Connecticut developed a reliable method to monitor nuclear sites remotely.

In the future, in many cases it will be algorithms developed by us at Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum that will be used to protect your data. The American National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) announced in July which cryptographic methods it will standardize to protect communications from future quantum computer cyberattacks. As Group Leader at Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, I was involved in the development of three of the selected procedures. Most online services use the methods standardized by NIST.