Research
My research at the Institute of Telematics and the KASTEL Security Research Labs focused on developing adaptive, resource-efficient techniques for detecting and mitigating attacks on current and future computer networks. By integrating reinforcement learning, traffic monitoring, and software-defined networking, the work enhanced both the security and reliability of network infrastructures. Key applications include automated defenses against volumetric DDoS attacks and the protection of control systems from stealth attacks. Further contributions advanced network control and monitoring, as well as education in network softwarization.
Research Areas
- Network Security
- Reinforcement Learning
- Software Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization
- Networked Control Systems
Awards
- X-WinNer Award 2018 for the best contribution from a young scientist on "Teaching network softwarization with SDN Cockpit: An open ecosystem for students, network administrators and others"
- Award of the KIT Department of Informatics for supporting the best lecture (mandatory module) "Telematics" (winter semester 2022/2023).
- Award of the KIT Department of Informatics for supporting the best lecture (mandatory module) "Telematics" (winter semester 2020/2021).
- Award of the KIT Department of Informatics for supporting the best practical course "Projektpraktikum Softwarebasierte Netze" (summer semester 2018).
- Award of the KIT Department of Informatics for supporting the best lecture (mandatory module) "Telematics" (summer semester 2017 to winter semester 2017/2018).
Publications
Dissertationen
Machine Learning-Guided Aggregate Filtering to Counteract Volumetric DDoS Attacks. Dissertation
Heseding, H.
2025, Juni 5. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). doi:10.5445/IR/1000182163
Heseding, H.
2025, Juni 5. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). doi:10.5445/IR/1000182163
Proceedingsbeiträge
SAFFIRRE: Selective Aggregate Filtering Through Filter Rule Refinement
Heseding, H.; Bachmann, F.; Bien, P. S.; Zitterbart, M.
2023. 2023 14th International Conference on Network of the Future (NoF), Izmir, 4th-06th October 2023, 42–46, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/NoF58724.2023.10302813
Heseding, H.; Bachmann, F.; Bien, P. S.; Zitterbart, M.
2023. 2023 14th International Conference on Network of the Future (NoF), Izmir, 4th-06th October 2023, 42–46, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/NoF58724.2023.10302813
Reducing memory footprints in purity estimations of volumetric DDoS traffic aggregates
Heseding, H.; Krack, T.; Zitterbart, M.
2023. M. Seufert, A. Blenk & O. Landsiedel (Hrsg.), 2nd Workshop on Machine Learning & Netwoking (MaLeNe) Proceedings. Co-located with the 5th International Conference on Networked Systems (NetSys 2023), Potsdam, Germany. Ed.: . Seufert, Universität Augsburg
Heseding, H.; Krack, T.; Zitterbart, M.
2023. M. Seufert, A. Blenk & O. Landsiedel (Hrsg.), 2nd Workshop on Machine Learning & Netwoking (MaLeNe) Proceedings. Co-located with the 5th International Conference on Networked Systems (NetSys 2023), Potsdam, Germany. Ed.: . Seufert, Universität Augsburg
Protocol-Agnostic Detection of Stealth Attacks on Networked Control Systems
Heseding, H.; Dieing, M.; Meshram, A.; Zitterbart, M.
2023. 2023 IEEE 21st International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN), Lemgo, Germany, 17-20 2023, 1–7, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/INDIN51400.2023.10218314
Heseding, H.; Dieing, M.; Meshram, A.; Zitterbart, M.
2023. 2023 IEEE 21st International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN), Lemgo, Germany, 17-20 2023, 1–7, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/INDIN51400.2023.10218314
MIDA: Micro-flow Independent Detection of DDoS Attacks with CNNs
Kopmann, S.; Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2023. Advances in Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing : International Workshops of ESOCC 2022, Wittenberg, Germany, March 22-24, 2022, Revised Selected Papers. Ed.: C. Zirpins, 32–43, Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-23298-5_3
Kopmann, S.; Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2023. Advances in Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing : International Workshops of ESOCC 2022, Wittenberg, Germany, March 22-24, 2022, Revised Selected Papers. Ed.: C. Zirpins, 32–43, Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-23298-5_3
ReCEIF: Reinforcement Learning-Controlled Effective Ingress Filtering
Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2022. 2022 IEEE 47th Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN), 106–113, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/LCN53696.2022.9843478
Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2022. 2022 IEEE 47th Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN), 106–113, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/LCN53696.2022.9843478
HollywooDDoS: Detecting Volumetric Attacks in Moving Images of Network Traffic
Kopmann, S.; Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2022. 2022 IEEE 47th Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN), 90–97, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/LCN53696.2022.9843465
Kopmann, S.; Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2022. 2022 IEEE 47th Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN), 90–97, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/LCN53696.2022.9843465
Reinforcement Learning-Controlled Mitigation of Volumetric DDoS Attacks
Heseding, H.
2022. C. Wressnegger, D. Reinhardt, T. Barber, B. C. Witt, D. Arp & Z. Mann (Hrsg.), SICHERHEIT 2022 Hrsg.: Wressnegger, Christian; Reinhardt, Delphine; Barber, Thomas; Witt, Bernhard C.; Arp, Daniel; Mann, Zoltan, 237–242, Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI). doi:10.18420/sicherheit2022_20
Heseding, H.
2022. C. Wressnegger, D. Reinhardt, T. Barber, B. C. Witt, D. Arp & Z. Mann (Hrsg.), SICHERHEIT 2022 Hrsg.: Wressnegger, Christian; Reinhardt, Delphine; Barber, Thomas; Witt, Bernhard C.; Arp, Daniel; Mann, Zoltan, 237–242, Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI). doi:10.18420/sicherheit2022_20
Network-driven Multicast Synchronization with TopoSync-SFC
Bachmann, F.; Bauer, R.; Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2020. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Network of the Future, NoF 2020: October 12-14, 2020. Ed.: P. Chemouil, 123–125, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/NoF50125.2020.9249138
Bachmann, F.; Bauer, R.; Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2020. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Network of the Future, NoF 2020: October 12-14, 2020. Ed.: P. Chemouil, 123–125, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/NoF50125.2020.9249138
TopoSync-SFC: SFC-aware Network-driven Synchronization of Multicast Traffic in Software-defined Environments
Bachmann, F.; Bauer, R.; Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2020. 6th IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization, NetSoft 2020; Virtual, Online; Belgium; 29 June 2020 through 3 July 2020. Ed.: F. De Turck, 377–385, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/NetSoft48620.2020.9165388
Bachmann, F.; Bauer, R.; Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2020. 6th IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization, NetSoft 2020; Virtual, Online; Belgium; 29 June 2020 through 3 July 2020. Ed.: F. De Turck, 377–385, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/NetSoft48620.2020.9165388
TopoSync-SFC: SFC-aware Network-driven Synchronization of Multicast Traffic in Software-defined Environments [accepted]
Bachmann, F.; Bauer, R.; Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2020. 2020 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Bachmann, F.; Bauer, R.; Heseding, H.; Zitterbart, M.
2020. 2020 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
TopoSync: Network-driven Synchronization of Multicast Traffic in Software-defined Environments
Bachmann, F.; Bauer, R.; Heseding, H.
2019. 2019 International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Disaster Management (ICT-DM), 1–4, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/ICT-DM47966.2019.9032934
Bachmann, F.; Bauer, R.; Heseding, H.
2019. 2019 International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Disaster Management (ICT-DM), 1–4, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/ICT-DM47966.2019.9032934
Balancing Performance Characteristics of Hierarchical Heavy Hitters
Heseding, H.; Glöckle, J.; Bauer, R.; Zitterbart, M.
2019. IFIP NETWORKING 2019, Warsaw, Poland, May 20-22, 2019, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.23919/IFIPNetworking.2019.8816832
Heseding, H.; Glöckle, J.; Bauer, R.; Zitterbart, M.
2019. IFIP NETWORKING 2019, Warsaw, Poland, May 20-22, 2019, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.23919/IFIPNetworking.2019.8816832
Teching network softwarization with SDN Cockpit: An open ecosystem for students, network administrators and others
Bauer, R.; Dittebrandt, A.; Zitterbart, M.; Heseding, H.
2018. 11. DFN-Forum Kommunikationstechnologien Günzburg, Germany, 27.-28. Juni 2018, Hrsg.: P. Müller, 93–102, Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI)
Bauer, R.; Dittebrandt, A.; Zitterbart, M.; Heseding, H.
2018. 11. DFN-Forum Kommunikationstechnologien Günzburg, Germany, 27.-28. Juni 2018, Hrsg.: P. Müller, 93–102, Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI)
EarlyDrop: A Trade-off Driven DDoS Defense Mechanism for Software-Defined Infrastructures
Bauer, R.; Heseding, H.; Flittner, M.
2017. 42nd IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks, LCN 2017; Singapore; Singapore; 9 October 2017 through 12 October 2017, 207–210, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/LCN.2017.71
Bauer, R.; Heseding, H.; Flittner, M.
2017. 42nd IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks, LCN 2017; Singapore; Singapore; 9 October 2017 through 12 October 2017, 207–210, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi:10.1109/LCN.2017.71