Chair of Mobile Business & Multilateral Security

Dr. Gökhan Bal

External Members

 kai_140x200_1.jpg
E-mail & Home Page:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 
 
Research Interests
  • Cyber Defense & Security Operations
  • Cyber Threat Intelligence
  • Mobile Security & Privacy
  • Human Factors of Security & Privacy
  • Security Education & Training
Curriculum Vitae
Digital security
…is the foundation of sustainable digitalization
…starts with the Human
…is my mission and story to tell
 

Gökhan Bal is a digital security enthusiast since 2007. Back then, emerging cyber attacks and data breaches made him realize that there will be no sustainable digitalization without robust security in the core of IT infrastructures. Being in the middle of his Computer Science studies at Goethe University Frankfurt, he set sail to the profession as an IT security expert and focused on topics like information security, computer networks and distributed systems. Gökhan gained his diploma in Computer Science (Diplom-Informatiker) in 2009 with the completion of a thesis about enhancing web browser security and privacy by using Trusted Computing capabilities (TPM) at the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology in Darmstadt. Amazed by the work on cutting-edge topics, in 2009 he decided to continue the academic pathway as a research and teaching assistant at the Chair of Mobile Business and Multilateral Security at Goethe University Frankfurt. Beyond his contributions to multiple EU-funded research projects, he researched on security and privacy issues on mobile platforms and completed his PhD in 2015 with a contribution to effective privacy risk communication in smartphone app ecosystems. Parts of his PhD work he performed during a research visit in 2013 at the renowned School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Since then, digital security is a mission and a story to tell for Gökhan. He follows this mission in multiple ways:

Working

In 2015 Gökhan followed the quest for making real-life contributions to digital security that affect many people. He started at the Deutsche Bahn group as an information security expert where he contributed to the cyber security strategy and to the enhancement of the companies' cyber defense capabilities. Since 2018 Gökhan is working at DB Systel, the internal IT service provider of Deutsche Bahn, where he is following up on his mission to enhance the capabilities of Deutsche Bahn to detect and respond to cyber attacks.

Teaching

Digitalization has just begun. In future, there will be a high demand for people with the right expertise and mindset to inject security into digital innovations. That motivates Gökhan to contribute to the education of the required skilled people. He gives lectures and seminars on digital security and privacy to various student audiences ranging from computer science, business administration & economics and psychology.

Blogging

As a digital security enthusiast who loves to contribute to peoples' security in all contexts of life, Gökhan founded the digital security blog "cyber & resistant" (cyberandresistant.de) in 2017 following the mission to empower people for resistance against cyber threats. While motivation and empowerment is the goal, positivity is a key character of the blog.

Publications
Monographs
Refereed Publications
  • Bal, Gökhan; Rannenberg, K., and Hong, J. I. 2015. "Styx: Privacy Risk Communication for the Android Smartphone Platform Based on Apps’ Data-Access Behavior Patterns,", Computers & Security (in press).
  • Tschersich, M.; Kiyomoto, S.; Pape, S.; Nakamura, T.; Bal, G.; Takasaki, H. and Rannenberg, K.. 2015. "On Gender Specific Perception of Data Sharing in Japan", In: ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection - 31st IFIP TC 11 International Conference, SEC 2016.
  • Bal, Gökhan; Rannenberg, Kai; Hong, Jason. 2014. "Styx: Design and Evaluation of a New Privacy Risk Communication Method for Smartphones", pp. 113–126., http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-55415-5_10, Marrakech.
  • Bal, Gökhan; Rannenberg, Kai . 2014. "User Control Mechanisms for Privacy Protection Should Go Hand in Hand with Privacy-Consequence Information: The Case of Smartphone Apps", https://m-chair.de/images/documents/publications/Position_Paper_W3C_WPUCC_Bal__Rannenberg.pdf, Berlin.
  • Bal, Gökhan. 2014. "Designing Privacy Indicators for Smartphone App Markets: A New Perspective on the Nature of Privacy Risks of Apps", GA, USA.
  • Bal, Gökhan. 2014. "Explicitness of Consequence Information in Privacy Warnings: Experimentally Investigating the Effects on Perceived Risk", Auckland, New Zealand.
  • Yang, Shuzhe; Bal, Gökhan . 2012. "Balancing Security and Usability of Local Security Mechanisms for Mobile Devices", Crete, Greece.
  • Bal, Gökhan . 2012. "Revealing Privacy-Impacting Behavior Patterns of Smartphone Applications", San Francisco, USA.
  • Koschinat, Sascha; Bal, Gökhan; Weber, Christian; Rannenberg, Kai . 2011. "Privacy by Sustainable Identity Management Enablers.", In: Privacy and Identity Management for Life, ISBN: 978-3-642-20317-6, pp. 431- 452, Springer, Heidelberg, Germany.
  • Bal, Gökhan; Kuntze, Nicolai; Schmidt, Andreas U. . 2009. "Injecting trust to cryptographic Key Management", Phoenix Park, Korea.
Working Papers
  • Bal, Gökhan; Hegen, Marvin; Koschinat, Sascha; Weber, Christian; Wolos, Lars . 2009. "Study on IdM related Data Assets on the basis of current IdM Player’s Data-Handling".
  • Koschinat, Sascha; Wolos, Lars . 2009. "Catalogue of Identity Management Functions".
Reviewed Project Publications