2024-14: "Privacy, Identity and Payment in the Next Generation Internet at BFH: Innovation Tour Point Zero Forum"
On the occasion of the Point Zero Forum's Innovation Tour, we have showcased the privacy-preserving GNU Taler payment system along with its various applications and extensions – as well as other payment- and digital identity related projects – that are currently being developed at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and its international partners as part of the NGI TALER EU project. This page includes recordings of the main talks. In the near future, we will also post interviews made with some of the poster presenters (sadly, only about half of the people could be interviewed due to time constraints).
Welcome talk (Peter Brunner, Head of research at BFH-TI)
NGI TALER: Payments with Informational Self-Determination for the Next Generation Internet (Christian Grothoff, Professor at the BFH-TI)
NGI TALER is a consortium dedicated to launching and promoting the GNU Taler payment system in Europe. GNU Taler is a Free Software implementation of a self-custody digital cash payment system with strict privacy protections for payers and equally strict transparency and accountability for payees. The talk gives a brief overview of the technology and the direction of the project.
The Vital Role of Protected Confirmation (Benjamin Fehrensen, Professor at BFH-TI)
Hardware protected confirmation empowers user’s sole control over confirmation actions in digital space - even on a compromised devices. It can be applied to a wide range of security critical operations such as “authentication”, “authentication with linking” (PSD2), “transaction confirmation” (e.g. EMV “3DS confirmation”), “shareholder voting”, “medical device steering”, “access un-locking”, “electronic signing” and many more. In addition, Protected Confirmation is becoming critical for multi-purpose authentication mechanisms such as the EUDI wallet and the Swiss EID planned for 2026. Hardware protected confirmation was successfully piloted within the UBS e-banking in 2023.
Demonstration: Limits of Hardware Key Protection (Andreas Habegger, Professor at BFH-TI and Kevin Schrag, Master Student at BFH-TI)
Advancements in hardware forensics and hacking pose significant challenges to Hardware Security Modules (HSMs). Techniques including side-channel attacks, fault injection, and physical manipulation of electronic devices are increasingly effective in extracting or inferring secrets safeguarded by certified HSMs, albeit often resulting in device destruction. While these methods historically demanded costly and specialized tools, they are gradually becoming more accessible to a wider audience. This video presents the cat and mouse game of making and breaking hardware security.
Protect our financial freedom! (Patrick Breyer, Member of the European Parliament)
Crypto regulation must respect the right to anonymity. The digital euro is a problem and not the solution. Cash protects our financial freedom and limits on anonymous cash payments endanger it.