Munich, DE · Space Systems Security
Leon Birkel
Doctoral Candidate at the Associate Professorship of Embedded Systems and Internet of Things, Technical University of Munich. I research space systems security. My work asks how satellites can trust each other, and their own components, when secret keys are not enough.
About
About
I am a doctoral candidate at the Associate Professorship of Embedded Systems and Internet of Things at the Technical University of Munich, working on space systems security: the security of communication between satellites and of the components inside them.
The direction started with my master’s thesis. It asks what authenticates an optical inter-satellite link once its secret keys leak, and it answers with orbital mechanics. Every attack needs a physical seat in space, and holding that seat burns propellant. I am continuing this line of work in my doctorate, across both inter-satellite and intra-satellite security.
Before that I worked as a student assistant at Fraunhofer AISEC (2024–2025). I built a relay kit for attacks on vehicle keyless entry and a post-quantum remote-safety demonstrator. That is the layer where software meets hardware and attacks become physical.
Outside research I founded OPL with two friends in 2018. It is an all-in-one esports tournament platform, and it has grown to more than 50,000 players and 60,000 matches across 17 game titles. I also tinker with IoT, smart home, and 3D printing.
DE Native · EN Fluent
Background
Background
2026 – present
Doctoral Candidate
Embedded Systems & Internet of Things (ESI), TUM
2024 – 2025
Student Research Assistant
Fraunhofer AISEC
2018 – present
Founder
OPL (Birkel, Herberg, Thai GbR)
2016 – 2018
Student Research Assistant
SAP UCC Munich · TUM Chair of Information Systems
Education
2025 – 2026
M.Sc. Informatics
Technical University of Munich
2023 – 2025
B.Sc. Informatics
Technical University of Munich
2016 – 2018
B.Sc. Informatics
Technical University of Munich
2015 – 2016
Early study program in Informatics
TUM, alongside school
Research Topics
Research topics
- 01 space systems security
- 02 inter-satellite link security
- 03 intra-satellite security
- 04 physical-layer authentication
- 05 embedded security
- 06 IoT security
Projects
Projects
01
A kinematic root of trust for laser-linked satellites
Master's thesis. Authenticating optical inter-satellite links through orbital mechanics instead of secret keys.
02
OPL, the all-in-one esports platform
Esports tournament platform I founded in 2018. It now counts 50,000+ players, 63,000+ matches and 17 game titles.
03
LF/HF relay kit for vehicle keyless entry
Hardware relay kit that forwards car unlock signals over distance. This is the technique behind keyless car theft.
04
Post-quantum remote-safety demonstrator
Remote-safety demonstrator at Fraunhofer AISEC running post-quantum-secure communication, with OpenTitan integration.
05
TUMfast website (IDP)
Rebuilt the TUMfast association website as an Interdisciplinary Project. The team was rewarded with lifelong honorary membership.
06
B.A.S.T.I.O.N., a hardened esports monitoring tool
Bachelor's thesis. Broke the integrity proofs of Moss, the standard esports anti-cheat monitor, then built a hardened replacement.
Selected Publications
Selected publications
2025
Securing the Additive Manufacturing Process Chain
Nikolai Puch, Stefan Dopfer, Leon Birkel · International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES 2025), Springer LNCS
Recent News
Recent news
This website went live.
Honored with a lifelong honorary membership in the TUMfast network.
Our paper “Securing the Additive Manufacturing Process Chain” (with Nikolai Puch and Stefan Dopfer) appeared at ARES 2025.