Kai Rannenberg holds the Chair of Mobile Business & Multilateral Security at Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany) since 2002 and a Visiting Professorship at the National Institute for Informatics (Tokyo, Japan) since 2012. Until 2002, he was working with the System Security Group at Microsoft Research Cambridge on „Personal Security Devices & Privacy Technologies“.

1993-1999 Kai coordinated the interdisciplinary “Kolleg Security in Communication Technology”, sponsored by Gottlieb Daimler & Karl Benz Foundation researching Multilateral Security. In parallel he did his PhD at Freiburg University on IT Security Evaluation Criteria and the protection of users and subscribers. Before Kai had completed an Informatics-Diploma (Master) at TU Berlin with a focus on privacy, security, and distributed and real-time systems.

Since 2021 Kai is IFIP Honorary Treasurer, before he was an IFIP Vice President and Councillor. Since 2014 he is Chair of the IFIP Publications Committee and Editor-in-chief of the IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. From 2007 till 2013 Kai chaired IFIP TC-11 “Security and Privacy Protection in Information Processing Systems”, after having been its Vice-Chair since 2001.

Kai is also active in the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS) chairing its Legal & Security Issues Special Interest Network (LSI) since 2003 and serving in its Board of Directors since 2019.

Since 1991 Kai is active in ISO/IEC standardization in JTC 1/SC 27/WG 3 “Security evaluation criteria”. 2007 he became Convenor of SC 27/WG 5 “Identity management and privacy technologies”.

From 2004 till 2013 Kai served as the academic expert in the Management Board of the European Network and Information Security Agency, and from 2013 till 2020 in ENISA’s Advisory Group (till 2019 named Permanent Stakeholder Group).

Kai has been coordinating several leading EU research projects, e.g. the Network of Excellence “Future of Identity in the Information Society (FIDIS)” and the Integrated Project “Attribute based Credentials for Trust” (ABC4Trust). Currently he is coordinating CyberSec4Europe, a pilot for the European Cybersecurity Competence Network the EU is implementing.

Kai's research interests include:

- Mobile and embedded systems and Multilateral Security in e.g. M-Business, LBS, transport systems, and industrial applications

- Privacy and identity management, especially attribute based authorisation

- Communication infrastructures & devices, e.g. personal security assistants & services

- Security and privacy standardisation, evaluation, and certification.