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Michael Backes

b. 1978

German computer scientist and mathematician

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About Michael Backes

Born 1978. Michael Backes is a German computer scientist, mathematician, university teacher and actor.

Michael Backes (born 7 January 1978) is a German professor of computer science. He is the founding director and CEO of the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security. He is known for his work on formal methods, cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies.

Life and career Born in Germany, he received a diploma degree in computer science and a diploma degree in mathematics from Saarland University in 2001 and 2002, respectively, and obtained his PhD in computer science from Saarland University in 2002 under the supervision of Birgit Pfitzmann and Harald Ganzinger.

He was successively a researcher at IBM Research (2002 – 2005) and associate professor (2005) and professor (2006 – today) of computer science at Saarland University, Germany.

He is the founding director and CEO of the newly funded CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, Germany, since 2018.

His research is concerned with information security and privacy, particularly on security and privacy in machine learning, trustworthy information processing and medical privacy; design, analysis and verification for security-critical systems and services, and universal solutions in software and network security.

On June 22, 2026, he was suspended from his role as director of CISPA under suspicion of espionage and an external review is set to follow.

Awards and honors Backes has received a number of awards, including the following: 2004: Caspar Bowden Award 2004 2005: IBM Outstanding Achievement Award 2007: Fellow of the Max Planck Society 2008: IBM Faculty Award 2008: MIT TR35 2009: European Research Council Starting Grant 2014: European Research Council Synergy Grant 2015: Member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering 2017: CNIL-INRIA Privacy Award 2017: NSA Cybersecurity Research Award 2018: Fellow of the IEEE 2018: Honorary Doctorate degree of the University of Lorraine 2023: ACM Fellow

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Important facts

Birth century
Nationality
Education
Saarland University
Employers
Saarland University, CISPA – Helmholtz Center for Information Security
Awards
IEEE Fellow; Honorary doctorate at the Lorraine university; ACM Fellow; Karl Heinz Beckurts Award; Honorary citizenship; Ehrenprofessur

People in Michael Backes's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Michael Backes's

Frequently asked questions

Who is Michael Backes?

German computer scientist and mathematician

When was Michael Backes born?

Michael Backes was born on 7 January 1978 in Lebach.

What is Michael Backes's occupation?

Michael Backes is a computer scientist, mathematician, university teacher and actor.

What nationality is Michael Backes?

Michael Backes is German.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Michael Backes

· Wikidata: Q19296289

· DBpedia: Michael Backes

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Michael Backes. https://biography.guide/michael-backes/

MLA: "Michael Backes." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/michael-backes/.

Chicago: "Michael Backes." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/michael-backes/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

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