Skip to main content ITU
Logo
  • Programmes
    • BSc Programmes
    • BSc in Global Business Informatics
    • BSc in Digital Design and Interactive Technologies
    • BSc in Software Development
    • BSc in Data Science
    • Applying for a BSc Programme
    • MSc Programmes
    • MSc in Digital Innovation & Management
    • MSc in Digital Design and Interactive Technologies
    • MSc in Software Design
    • MSc in Computer Science
    • MSc in Data Science
    • MSc in Games
    • Applying for an MSc Programme
    • Student Life
    • Women in tech
    • Student Organisations at ITU
    • Labs for students
    • Practical Information for International Students
    • Study Start
    • Study and Career Guidance
    • Guest Students
    • Who can be a Guest Student
    • ITU Summer University
    • Exchange Student
    • Become an exchange student at ITU
    • Open House
    • Open House - MSc Programmes
    • Open House - BSc programmes
  • Professional Education
    • Master in IT
    • Master in IT Management
    • Single Subjects
    • About single subjects
    • Contact
    • Contact us here
  • Research
    • Departments
    • Business IT Department
    • Computer Science Department
    • Digital Design Department
    • Research Groups and Labs
    • Research Groups
    • Labs
    • Research Centres
    • Centre for Computer Games Research
    • Center for Computing Education Research
    • Centre for Digital Welfare
    • Centre for Information Security and Trust
    • European Blockchain Centre
    • Research Centre for Government IT
    • Research Institutes
    • Danish Institute for IT Program Management
    • Selected Research Themes
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Big Data
    • Climate IT
    • Computer games
    • Blockchain
    • Digitalization
    • IT security
    • Find a Researcher
    • Faculty Search
    • PhD Programme
    • About the PhD Programme
    • Available PhD Positions
    • PhD Courses
    • Research Ethics and Integrity
    • Good Scientific Practice
    • PhD Defences
    • Technical Reports
    • Technical Reports
  • Collaboration
    • Collaboration with students
    • Project collaboration
    • Project Market
    • Student worker
    • Project postings
    • Job and Project bank
    • Portraits of ITU graduates
    • Employer Branding
    • IT Match Making
    • Hiring an ITU student or graduate
    • Make a post in the job bank
    • Research collaboration
    • Licensing Opportunities
    • Open Entrepreneurship
    • Research collaboration
    • Industrial PhD
    • Hire an Industrial PhD
    • Innovation and entrepreneurship
    • ITU Business Development
    • ITU Startup programme
    • Startup stories
  • About ITU
    • Vacancies
    • Press
    • ITU Alumni
    • News
    • Calendar
    • Contact
    • About ITU
  • DK
How do we secure critical technologies from tampering? The answer may be sending them into orbit
ITU  /  Press  /  News from ITU  /  How do we secure critical technologies from tampering? The answer may be sending them into orbit

How do we secure critical technologies from tampering? The answer may be sending them into orbit

At the IT University of Copenhagen, Associate Professor Bernardo David, is working on a joint research project that aims to send satellites that power cryptographic and blockchain applications into orbit in order to secure them from tampering and to enable time-based primitives based on communication delays.

Bernardo Machado DavidComputer Science DepartmentResearchalgorithmsBlockchaincybercrime

Written January 20, 2022 7:44 AM by Theis Duelund Jensen

Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, Bernardo David, is currently working on a project that sounds like something out of a sci-fi film, but in reality, has very real-life implications for many of the technological applications we use today. Together with Cryptosat, a company that builds satellites, and the open-source R&D company, Protocol Labs, Bernardo David, and his colleague Carsten Baum from Aarhus University, are working to improve the fundamental conditions for cryptographic and blockchain applications. But how do satellites, blockchain technology, and cryptography fit together?

“Basically, we can conceptualize the project by thinking of a lottery,” says Bernardo David who specializes in cryptography and information theory and is a member of the Center for Information Security and Trust at ITU.

“In a lottery you buy a ticket, and if the sequence of numbers you have selected match the ones picked by the central lottery administration, you win a prize. But what if we do not trust the central lottery administration to pick a winning sequence of numbers at random? The ability to run a lottery without having to rely on a single authority is essential for building energy efficient and scalable blockchains based on the so-called Proof-of-Stake mechanism.”

Decentralized process
By using a distributed lottery mechanism, the need for a central administration is removed and the result is unbiased. However, the blockchain system is still vulnerable to tampering. You may have decentralized the process, but the individual nodes in the network are still corruptible. This is where cryptography comes into play.

“It is also where a satellite network is useful,” says Bernardo David. “It is close to impossible to physically hack satellites, but they can also be applied in other ways.“

They can generate unbiased randomness in a distributed system by using so-called Verifiable Delay Functions, a cryptographic primitive which produces a certain output – in our case a random number – after a given amount of time has lapsed. The fixed delay is necessary in order to make sure that every part of the distributed network receives the random number at the same time. The only problem is that computers compute functions at different speeds depending on their capabilities making the network vulnerable to hackers.

“It is extremely important for security reasons that we can obtain a guaranteed delay on the computation process, but that is very hard, because a powerful computer will be able to compute the delay function faster than a normal computer. In our project, instead of building on computation, we turn to physics,” says Bernardo David.

Sending signals from orbit
Electromagnetic signals travel at the speed of light which means that by relaying an electromagnetic signal between nodes, it is possible to implement a universal delay function. As the signal on Earth would have to travel between nodes several thousand times before reaching a delay of only one minute, this process is done much more efficiently if the nodes are satellites orbiting the planet. The bigger the sphere, the fewer relays a signal has to make.

The technology is not only applicable to our lottery scenario. As Bernardo David explains, many technologies in different sectors rely on randomized input and it is of the utmost importance to secure the process:

“Time-based primitives have the potential to improve the security, privacy, and scalability of blockchain platforms and other cryptographic protocols. With this technology we hope to guarantee trust and transparency in everything from blockchain to Internet transactions.”

Further information

Theis Duelund Jensen, Press Officer, Tel: +45 2555 0447, email: thej@itu.dk

News

Rasmus Ejlers Møgelberg and Jonas Fritsch receive grants from IRFD

Rasmus Ejlers Møgelberg and Jonas Fritsch receive grants from IRFD

May 10, 2022

The two researchers – from Computer Science and Digital Design at the IT University respectively – have each secured a grant of approximately 2.8 million kroner for their research projects.

European Blockchain Center announces new partnership

European Blockchain Center announces new partnership

April 28, 2022

The European Blockchain Center at the IT University of Copenhagen is partnering with SupraOracles to explore future collaborative efforts to provide value to the blockchain industry on a global scale.

Can robots help prevent anxiety attacks in children?

Can robots help prevent anxiety attacks in children?

April 26, 2022

Morten Roed Frederiksen from Computer Science at ITU has received 1.6 million kroner from Independent Research Fund Denmark for at research project that aims to make robots better at understanding human emotion. The goal is to create technology that may help children with anxiety.

Professor Sebastian Risi receives grant to develop policy learning with neural networks

Professor Sebastian Risi receives grant to develop policy learning with neural networks

April 20, 2022

Professor in the Digital Design Department at the IT University of Copenhagen, Sebastian Risi, has received a grant of approximately 550,000 Danish kroner for his work on neural cellular automata to grow neural network policies capable of adapting to novel complex reinforcement learning tasks.

New research may help improve Copenhagen’s bicycle infrastructure

New research may help improve Copenhagen’s bicycle infrastructure

March 28, 2022

A newly released research paper shows how network analysis can serve as a cost-efficient support tool for bicycle infrastructure planning. The research has been conducted by analyzing the street network in Copenhagen based on data from OpenStreetMap.

ITU professor takes critical approach to green tech, secures prestigious grant

ITU professor takes critical approach to green tech, secures prestigious grant

March 17, 2022

Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen’s Business IT department Steffen Dalsgaard has won the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant. The almost two million Euro grant will enable him and his colleagues to critically examine IT and sustainability across the globe.

We need to talk about marine renewable energy

We need to talk about marine renewable energy

March 3, 2022

Denmark lacks neither ocean waves nor pioneering scientists and innovators who are dreaming about harnessing energy from them. Professor at IT University of Copenhagen Brit Ross Winthereik, who headed research into initiatives in wave energy innovation around the Atlantic, explains why we are still waiting to see a booming wave energy industry.

IT University to suspend all cooperation with Russia and Belarus

IT University to suspend all cooperation with Russia and Belarus

March 2, 2022

Along with Denmark’s other universities, ITU will be suspending all bilateral institutional cooperation with the states of Russia and Belarus going forward. Current exchange programme participants will not be affected by the measure.

New blockchain governance standard to generate trust and accountability in the market

New blockchain governance standard to generate trust and accountability in the market

February 28, 2022

The new standard, developed by Professor Roman Beck at the IT-University and Danish Standard, will ensure greater transparency, interoperability, and accountability in the use of blockchain and DLT systems. Professor Roman Beck has recently received AIS’s Impact Award for his work in the field.

Using Minecraft to explore climate change topics with school children

Using Minecraft to explore climate change topics with school children

February 8, 2022

Few of the world’s most popular games deal directly with climate issues. However, games can still be used to make gamers think about real world problems, says Associate Professor, Hans-Joachim Backe, who is developing tools for teachers to discuss climate issues based on for example Minecraft.

Digitizing the Amazon: How to use the rainforest without ruining it

Digitizing the Amazon: How to use the rainforest without ruining it

February 8, 2022

There is a lot of hope that the digital, material, and biological innovations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will help us save the Amazon rainforest. However, the real impact of the new bio economy is yet to be revealed. Researchers from the IT University will study the outcome of Amazônia 4.0.

ITU PhD fellow named Game Changer by gaming industry mainstay

ITU PhD fellow named Game Changer by gaming industry mainstay

January 5, 2022

PhD fellow at the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen, Leon Y. Xiao, is new to ITU, but his research into the legal and ethical aspects of the gaming industry has already made an impact. Gaming industry mainstay, GamesIndustry.biz, recently named him one of 2021’s Game Changers.

Martin Tvede Zachariasen steps down as Vice-Chancellor

Martin Tvede Zachariasen steps down as Vice-Chancellor

December 20, 2021

Martin Tvede Zachariasen steps down as Vice-Chancellor of the IT University after three years in office. Martin Tvede Zachariasen’s resignation takes effect December 31, 2021.

European Blockchain Center announces International blockchain school and Nordic Blockchain Summit in early 2022

European Blockchain Center announces International blockchain school and Nordic Blockchain Summit in early 2022

December 8, 2021

The International Blockchain School will be held at IT University of Copenhagen on January 24-28th, 2022. On the final day of classes, the students will present their projects at the public event, Nordic Blockchain Summit.

ITU’s Mogens Jacobsen wins prestigious art grant

ITU’s Mogens Jacobsen wins prestigious art grant

December 8, 2021

The artist Mogens Jacobsen who teaches at Digital Design at the IT University of Copenhagen creates art inspired by technology and scientific research. Today, he is the recipient of a grant from the prestigious Niels Wessel Bagge Art Foundation.

ITU researcher secures prestigious fellowship to empower citizen cooperation

ITU researcher secures prestigious fellowship to empower citizen cooperation

December 7, 2021

Associate Professor of Computer Science at the IT University of Copenhagen, Luca Maria Aiello, has won the Carlsberg Foundation’s prestigious Young Researcher Fellowship for a project that aims to facilitate citizen coordination in the face of global challenges such as climate change.

CDV Podcast: Could your cat be used to store your family photos?

CDV Podcast: Could your cat be used to store your family photos?

December 1, 2021

The incomprehensible amounts of digital data we store is a real climate burden. In the Center for Digital Welfare's podcast, host Anders Kjærulff and Assistant Professor James Maguire, discuss research initiatives on environmentally friendly data storage.

Business travel plays vital role in economic growth, according to ITU researcher

Business travel plays vital role in economic growth, according to ITU researcher

November 24, 2021

As a thought experiment Associate Professor of Computer Science at the IT-University, Michele Coscia, theorized that global GDP would drop significantly if business travel on a global scale ceased – now the global COVID-19 shutdown has proven his theory in practice.

Public debate: Do Big Data and law enforcement go hand in hand?

Public debate: Do Big Data and law enforcement go hand in hand?

November 10, 2021

On December 14, the IT University headed research project CUPP and PROSA are hosting a public seminar and debate on data driven policing. Panelists include Palantir Technologies representative Paula Kift, former DPO of the National Police of Denmark, Christian Wiese Svanberg, and Jesper Lund from the IT Political Association.

Contact us

Phone
+45 7218 5000
E-mail
itu@itu.dk

All contact information

Web Accessibility Statement

Find us

IT University of Copenhagen
Rued Langgaards Vej 7
DK-2300 Copenhagen S
Denmark
How to get here

Follow us

ITU Student /
Privacy /
EAN-nr. 5798000417878/
CVR-nr. 29 05 77 53

This page is printed from https://en.itu.dk/research/portalplaceholder?layoutfraction=top&langRef=https://pure.itu.dk/portal/da/organisations/digital-design(d065e6c2-4fae-4d68-ad04-70aec25d2d5e)/clippings.html?page=29