Maximilian Golla

Postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum, Germany

Hi there!

I'm a postdoctoral researcher interested in usable security and privacy. While I studied computer science, I later specialized in information security and developed an interest for usability and human factors in computer security.

During my PhD, I focused on exploring the usability and security of password-based user authentication. At the time, I was a scholar of the DFG (German Research Foundation) research training group UbiCrypt. I worked extensively with Blase Ur from SUPERgroup at the University of Chicago and Adam J. Aviv from GWUSEC Lab at the George Washington University. I received my PhD in 2019 from Ruhr University Bochum, where I was advised by Prof. Dr. Markus Dürmuth.

Since October 2019, I'm a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum, Germany. The research of our group at MPI-SP focuses on computer security, privacy, and human-computer interaction (HCI). We are especially working on methods to help users make better security and privacy decisions, as well as, to make complex computer systems more usable for non-technical users.

Interests

User Authentication

Privacy Controls

User Authentication
- Passwords (Strength, Recovery, Reuse, Management, ...)
- Mobile Authentication (PINs, Patterns, Biometrics)
- Smart Home & IoT (Access Control)
- Alternative Schemes (Implicit Memory, Gamification)
- Passwordless (FIDO2 & WebAuthn)

Privacy Controls
- Social Networks (Targeting & Transparency)
- Voice Assistants (Private Mode & Accidental Triggers)
- Secure Communication (Messenger & Email Encryption)

Education

Doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) — Summa cum laude (With highest honors)
- Usable Security and Privacy
- «On the Usability and Security of Password-Based User Authentication» — Distinguished Thesis Award
- Ruhr University Bochum
Master of Science (M.Sc., Engineer) — Very good
- IT Security - Network & Systems
- «Graphical Fallback Authentication»
- Ruhr University Bochum
Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng., Engineer) — Good
- Computer Science - Communication in Distributed Systems
- «Security Audit of a Web Interface for Building Automation»
- University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt

Contact

Maximilian Golla
Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy
Ruhr University Bochum, ID 2/129
Universitaetsstr. 150, 44780 Bochum
maximilian.golla@rub.de

MPI-SP RUB Twitter Slack GitHub Google Hall of Fame PGP Key

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Below you can find a list of selected papers and posters.
Last update: December 2020

Citation Profiles:
Google Scholar DBLP ORCID iD IEEE Xplore ACM DL ResearchGate

2021
Under Review
"Unacceptable, where is my privacy?" Exploring Accidental Triggers of Smart Speakers
Lea Schönherr, Maximilian Golla, Thorsten Eisenhofer, Jan Wiele, Dorothea Kolossa, and Thorsten Holz
- Preprint Website
2020
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP '20) — May, 2020 — San Francisco, California, USA (Acceptance: 12.3%)
This PIN Can Be Easily Guessed: Analyzing the Security of Smartphone Unlock PINs
Philipp Markert, Daniel V. Bailey, Maximilian Golla, Markus Dürmuth, and Adam J. Aviv
- Paper Slides Talk Website Dataset
2019
USENIX Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS '19) — August, 2019 — Santa Clara, California, USA ( Distinguished Poster Award)
POSTER: "What was that site doing with my Facebook password?" Designing Password-Reuse Notifications
Miranda Wei, Maximilian Golla, Juliette Hainline, Lydia Filipe, Markus Dürmuth, Elissa Redmiles, and Blase Ur
- Poster Session
PhD Thesis — Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) — May, 2019 — Bochum, Germany ( Distinguished Thesis Award)
On the Usability and Security of Password-Based User Authentication
Maximilian Golla
- PhD Thesis Slides
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP '19) — May, 2019 — San Francisco, California, USA (Acceptance: 11.7%)
Reasoning Analytically About Password-Cracking Software
Enze Liu, Amanda Nakanishi, Maximilian Golla, David Cash, Blase Ur
- Paper
  
  IEEE SP 19 PasswordsCon 19
  
  IEEE SP 19 PasswordsCon 19
  
  Source Code
ISOC Workshop on Usable Security (USEC '19) — February, 2019 — San Diego, California, USA
Work in Progress: A Comparative Long-Term Study of Fallback Authentication
Philipp Markert, Maximilian Golla, Elizabeth Stobert, and Markus Dürmuth
- Paper Slides
ISOC Workshop on Usable Security (USEC '19) — February, 2019 — San Diego, California, USA
Work in Progress: On the In-Accuracy and Influence of Android Pattern Strength Meters
Maximilian Golla, Jan Rimkus, Adam J. Aviv, and Markus Dürmuth
- Paper Slides
2018
ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS '18) — October, 2018 — Toronto, Canada (Acceptance: 16.6%)
"What was that site doing with my Facebook password?" Designing Password-Reuse Notifications
Maximilian Golla, Miranda Wei, Juliette Hainline, Lydia Filipe, Markus Dürmuth, Elissa Redmiles, and Blase Ur
- Paper Slides Talk
ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS '18) — October, 2018 — Toronto, Canada (Acceptance: 16.6%)
On the Accuracy of Password Strength Meters
Maximilian Golla and Markus Dürmuth
- Paper Slides Talk Website Source Code
USENIX Security Symposium (SSYM '18) — August, 2018 — Baltimore, Maryland, USA (Acceptance: 19.1%)
Rethinking Access Control and Authentication for the Home Internet of Things (IoT)
Weijia He, Maximilian Golla, Roshni Padhi, Jordan Ofek, Markus Dürmuth, Earlence Fernandes, and Blase Ur
- Paper Slides Talk
Who Are You?! Adventures in Authentication Workshop (WAY '18) — August, 2018 — Baltimore, Maryland, USA
"Will Any Password Do?" Exploring Rate-Limiting on the Web
Maximilian Golla, Theodor Schnitzler, and Markus Dürmuth
- Paper Slides
Who Are You?! Adventures in Authentication Workshop (WAY '18) — August, 2018 — Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Bars, Badges, and High Scores: On the Impact of Password Strength Visualizations
Maximilian Golla, Björn Hahn, Karsten Meyer zu Selhausen, Henry Hosseini, and Markus Dürmuth
- Paper Slides
Who Are You?! Adventures in Authentication Workshop (WAY '18) — August, 2018 — Baltimore, Maryland, USA
The Password Doesn't Fall Far: How Service Influences Password Choice
Miranda Wei, Maximilian Golla, and Blase Ur
- Paper Slides
2017
Who Are You?! Adventures in Authentication Workshop (WAY '17) — July, 2017 — Santa Clara, California, USA
"I want my money back!" Limiting Online Password-Guessing Financially
Maximilian Golla, Daniel V. Bailey, and Markus Dürmuth
- Paper Slides
USENIX Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS '17) — July, 2017 — Santa Clara, California, USA
POSTER: Towards Implicit Visual Memory-Based Authentication
Claude Castelluccia, Markus Dürmuth, Maximilian Golla, and Fatma Deniz
- Poster Session
ISOC Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS '17) — February, 2017 — San Diego, California, USA (Acceptance: 16.1%)
Towards Implicit Visual Memory-Based Authentication
Claude Castelluccia, Markus Dürmuth, Maximilian Golla, and Fatma Deniz
- Paper Slides Talk Website
ISOC Workshop on Usable Security (USEC '17) — February, 2017 — San Diego, California, USA
EmojiAuth: Quantifying the Security of Emoji-based Authentication
Maximilian Golla, Dennis Detering, and Markus Dürmuth
- Paper Slides
2016
ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS '16) — October, 2016 — Vienna, Austria (Acceptance: 16.5%)
On the Security of Cracking-Resistant Password Vaults
Maximilian Golla, Benedict Beuscher, and Markus Dürmuth
- Paper Slides Talk Source Code
2015
International Conference on Passwords (PASSWORDS '15) — December, 2015 — Cambridge, United Kingdom
Analyzing 4 Million Real-World Personal Knowledge Questions
Maximilian Golla and Markus Dürmuth
- Paper Slides Talk

Community Service, Committees, and Reviewing Activities

Last update: November 2020

Program Committee and Poster Chair: 17th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS '21)
External Reviewer: 42nd IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP '21)
Reviewer: 16th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI '21)
Reviewer: IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing (TETC '20)
Program Chair: 6th Who Are You?! Adventures in Authentication Workshop (WAY '20)
Program Committee and Poster Chair: 16th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS '20)
Publicity Chair: 5th European Workshop on Usable Security (EuroUSEC '20)
Reviewer: ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security (TOPS '20)
External Reviewer: 29th USENIX Security Symposium (SSYM '20)
Poster Jury: 15th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS '19)
Program Chair: 5th Who Are You?! Adventures in Authentication Workshop (WAY '19)
Program Committee and Publicity Chair: 4th European Workshop on Usable Security (EuroUSEC '19)
Program Committee: 4th Who Are You?! Adventures in Authentication Workshop (WAY '18)
Reviewer: 39th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS '18)
Program Committee: 2018 Networked Privacy Workshop at ACM CHI (NPW '18)
External Reviewer: 3rd Who Are You?! Adventures in Authentication Workshop (WAY '17)
External Reviewer: 26th USENIX Security Symposium (SSYM '17)
Reviewer: ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security (TOPS '17)
Reviewer: 11th International Conference on Passwords (PASSWORDS '16)