Professor Zitterbart is the head of the Institute for Telematics at KIT.

Her research interests lie in the field of networked systems. The research work deals with architectures, protocols and algorithms for Internet-based systems as well as for mobile and ubiquitous systems including wireless sensor-actuator networks. Among other things, aspects of network security and the provision of private sphere services are examined. In 1991, she was awarded the prize by the GI Division KuVS (Communication and Distributed Systems) for the best doctoral thesis in the field of "Communication and Distributed Systems" in Germany. In 2002, she was awarded the Alcatel SEL Research Prize for Technical Communication.

In KASTEL, Prof. Zitterbart's research group is investigating several open questions at the interface between communication and security. These relate to miniature devices equipped with sensors that enable innovative services in smart environments, but whose limited resources require new concepts for guaranteeing confidentiality and authenticity. In the context of the Internet of Everything, the protection of privacy continues to be a central object of investigation. Prof. Zitterbart's research group is working on protocols for private-sphere smart metering and building blocks for private-sphere smart-traffic services. When drafting measures to increase privacy, care is taken to ensure that they do not depend on the trustworthiness of individual third parties or service providers. In the context of Industry 4.0, the working group is researching SDN- and NFV-supported security concepts and transparency-creating measures for secure cloud use.

Another central focus is the exploration of block-chain networks. On the one hand, methods are being investigated and developed to increase privacy in block-chain-based currency systems such as bitcoin. On the other hand, it will be investigated to what extent the decentralized consistency achieved by blockchain networks can be used as a basic service for further application contexts, e. g. by implementing Smart Contracts. In this context, work is planned on the distributed determination and persistence of attributes with the aim of creating and securing a flexible, cross-context identity.