Netidee Call 20 scholarship
netidee is Austria’s major open-source internet funding initiative, organised and financed by the Internet Foundation, which supports projects and academic work related to the internet with a strong focus on open source, openness, and societal benefit. Each year, netidee awards scholarships for thesis projects at Austrian universities (approximately €6,000 for Master’s theses and €12,000 for PhD dissertations), enabling students to fully concentrate on their research.
In Call 20 (2025), netidee made €1.4 million available for innovative projects, scholarships, and research. From 138 submissions, the funding board selected 18 projects and 10 scholarship recipients, awarding around €1 million to support the development of the internet in Austria. Among the funded scholarship projects is “Analyzing and Understanding the Internet of Insecure Things” by Carlotta Tagliaro, a PreDoc researcher at the Research Unit Security and Privacy, supervised by Prof. Martina Lindorfer.
Internet of Things (IoT) devices are now common in homes, assisting with daily tasks while collecting large amounts of user and environmental data. As these devices often lack interfaces, mobile companion apps provide key functionality but also pose privacy and security risks. Carlotta’s research investigates how IoT devices, apps, backends, and protocols operate, whether safeguards exist, and where privacy may be compromised.
One study analyzes the HbbTV protocol used in smart TVs and shows that personal data is collected before user consent in several European countries. Another examines 3,000 companion apps, identifying sensitive data exposures, including default credentials that allow access to all users of a health bracelet. A further large-scale assessment of backend systems uncovers widespread misconfigurations, weak cryptography, and data leakage. Finally, the work explores the challenges of coordinated vulnerability disclosure, balancing public safety with the responsibilities of researchers and vendors.
