We have released a new update for the Thunderbird and Firefox add-on TORPEDO. As part of this release, we have modernized the code and updated it to current libraries. In addition to a revised tutorial, the tooltip can now be configured in the options. Individual tooltip information can be shown or hidden as needed. Furthermore, links with trusted domains from user-defined lists are now treated the same color-wise as domains from the developer list – both are displayed with a green tooltip border. The update is available immediately in the official Firefox and Thunderbird add-on stores. Existing installations will be updated automatically. When updating, you may be asked for permissions again. For more details on the required permissions, please read the "Permissions" section on the TORPEDO website.

On July 23, the 16th IT Security Day took place in Karlsruhe. Organized by the Karlsruhe IT Security Initiative, CyberForum, and KASTEL—Institute for Information Security and Dependability, the annual event highlights current IT security threats faced by businesses and provides detailed information on prevention strategies. “Wir forschen digital” took the opportunity to recruit participants for a currently ongoing study on email verification using S/MIME. The citizen panel offers the opportunity to participate in studies conducted by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in exchange for compensation. We would like to thank the organizers for the great cooperation.

The paper "Perceptions of Coercion and Vote Buying in Remote Voting Across Four Countries" by Christina Nissen, Oksana Kulyk, Jurlind Budurushi, and Melanie Volkamer was accepted for presentation at the International Conference for Electronic Voting (EVote ID 2026). The paper reports on a study with 178 participants to evaluate how voters from four countries perceive the threat of voter coercion and vote buying through different scenarios. It was found that participants from Kenya and Mexico perceive the threat of vote buying as more effective in altering election outcomes than those from Finland and Sweden. EVote ID takes place October 6 to 9, 2026 in Tallinn, Estonia.

SECUSO is welcoming two visiting researchers this month: Judith Kankam Boateng, PhD student at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), is visiting us as part of a three-week guest stay. Judith is conducting research on mental models, misalignments, and implementation gaps in the context of cybersecurity measures in Danish SMEs. Furthermore, Yorick Last from the University of Paderborn visited our group and presented his research on digital identity wallets. Both also gave a presentation at the SECUSO Research Seminar.