IACR News
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24 August 2022
University of Surrey
Job PostingWe would like to invite applications for an up to 3 years fully funded postdoctoral position within the Department of Computer Science, University of Surrey. The expected start is October 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter.
The postdoctoral researcher will contribute to two EU-funded research projects “CONNECT: Continuous and Efficient Cooperative Trust Management for Resilient CCAM” and “REWIRE: Rewiring the Compositional Security Verification and Assurance of Systems of Systems Lifecycle”. The main responsibility of the post holder will be in the design and development of new cryptographic protocols for trusted computing and secure systems, including attribute-based encryption and signatures, anonymous signatures, remote attestation, and distributed ledger technologies. Applicants should have a PhD (or close to completing a PhD degree) in a relevant subject or equivalent professional experience.
The position offers the platform for the research fellow to develop skills to become an independent researcher. The successful candidate will work under the direction of Professor Liqun Chen and Dr Catalin Dragan. The research fellow will also work with the other colleagues of the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security and collaborate with the other partners of the CONNECT project consortium and the REWIRE project consortium.
Requirements:
We are looking for applicants that demonstrate strong research and protocol design skills, have strong communication skills, and have enthusiasm for developing their own research ideas. Applicants should have knowledge and experience in the design of cryptographic protocols for trusted computing and secure systems, and a good understanding of distributed ledger technologies. Skills in software engineering would be an advantage but being willing to learn how to develop a software prototype for demonstration is acceptable.
Applicants should have a PhD (or close to completing a PhD degree) in a relevant subject or equivalent professional experience.
Closing date for applications:
Contact: Professor Liqun Chen (liqun.chen@surrey.ac.uk) or Dr Catalin Dragan (c.dragan@surrey.ac.uk)
More information: https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=058222
Ruhr-University Bochum
Job PostingYou will conduct research in algorithms for classical and quantum cryptanalysis and publish/present the results at top venues for research in crypto/IT Security. This is a joint doctorate, supervised by Alexander May and Michael Walter.
Your Profile:
- Master’s degree or equivalent in computer science, mathematics, theoretical physics, or a related field.
- Outstanding grades in classes related to cryptography, (quantum) algorithms, theoretical CS, or mathematics. (Familiarity with provable security and/or a strong mathematical background are a plus.)
- Excellent communication/writing skills in English. (No German required.)
- Compliance with the MSCA-ITN mobility rule: You must not have resided or carried out your main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Germany for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before your recruitment date.
- Full-time employment for the duration of the PhD (four years at Ruhr-University Bochum).
- A well-rounded training offered by the QSI network, covering a range of topics related to secure communications in the quantum era, as well as complementary training intended to enhance your personal development.
- Generous travel budget that allows for, e.g., exposure to different sectors via planned placements and attendance to summer schools.
Closing date for applications:
Contact: To apply or for questions, contact alex.may@rub.de. Applications should contain the following in a single PDF:
- Cover letter describing your background and research interests.
- CV, including transcripts.
- A link to your MSc thesis (draft), if available.
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Job Posting
Project: Efficient implementation of post-quantum ciphers in quantum logic (with a focus on code-based ciphers)
Vacancy: 2 persons
Duration: September 2022 to February 2023 (6 months)
PI: Anubhab Baksi (anubhab.baksi@ntu.edu.sg)
Closing date for applications:
Contact: Anubhab Baksi
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Job Posting- symmetric-key cryptography,
- lightweight cryptography,
- side-channel analysis,
- optimized software and/or hardware implementations,
- fully-homomorphic encryption,
- machine learning.
Salaries are competitive and are determined according to the successful applicants accomplishments, experience and qualifications. Interested applicants should send their detailed CVs, cover letter and references to Prof. Thomas Peyrin (thomas.peyrin@ntu.edu.sg).
Review of applications starts immediately and will continue until positions are filled.
Closing date for applications:
Contact: Thomas Peyrin
University of St.Gallen, Switzerland
Job PostingResearch areas: Research areas include but are not limited to:
- Verifiable computation
- Secure Multi Party Computation
- Privacy-preserving authentication
- Cryptographic primitives
- Privacy-preserving biometric authentication
- A MSc degree in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics or a relevant field;
- Strong mathematical and algorithmic CS background;
- Excellent programming skills;
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
Starting date: By mutual agreement
Closing date for applications:
Contact: Eriane Breu
CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security
Job PostingAll applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their complete application by November 1, 2022 with interviews starting in December 2022. However, applications will continue to be accepted until December 15, 2022 with interviews in 2023.
Closing date for applications:
Contact: scientific-recruiting@cispa.de
More information: https://faculty.jobs.cispa.de/sec/iacr
TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Job PostingClosing date for applications:
Contact: Stefan Schmid (stefan.schmid@tu-berlin.de)
Monash University, Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity; Melbourne, Australia
Job PostingThe post-quantum cryptography research group at the Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Australia, has Ph.D. student scholarship openings for research projects, including in particular the following areas:
1. Post-quantum cryptographic primitives and their practical applications in blockchain consensus protocols.
2. Post-quantum Zero Knowledge Proof and SNARK protocols and their applications for privacy preserving blockchain transactions and smart contracts.
3. Post-quantum cryptographic primitives and protocols for scalable and accountable blockchain transactions, including layer 2 payment channel protocols.
Students will have the opportunity to work in an excellent research environment and collaborate with experts in cryptography and blockchain systems in the Monash Blockchain Technology Centre, and with industry partners.
Monash University is among the leading universities in Australia and is located in Melbourne, ranked as Australia's most liveable city and among the most liveable cities in the world.
Applicants should have a strong background and skills in preferably all of the following: mathematics, cryptography, and programming, especially in Sagemath/python and/or C/C++. They should have (or expected to complete in the next 12 months) a Masters or Honours equivalent qualification with a research thesis.
To apply, please contact ron.steinfeld@monash.edu and include your CV, copies of undergraduate and postgraduate academic result transcripts, and any relevant publications.
Closing date for applications:
Contact: To apply, please contact ron.steinfeld@monash.edu and send your CV, copies of undergraduate and postgraduate academic result transcripts, and any relevant publications.
Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Copenhagen area
Job PostingProject description
You will look at a number of open questions and loose ends in the security proof of the Fujisaki-Okamoto transformation, a variant of which is used in virtually all post-quantum-secure protocols for key encapsulation. You will use and develop mathematical tools like, for example, random matrix theory and probability theory to analyze post-quantum public-key encryption schemes and key encapsulation mechanisms.
Your position is part of the MSCA doctoral network QSI (Quantum-Safe Internet), a consortium of more than 10 European institution with the purpose of training a world-class cohort of doctoral researchers. Within this network you will receive guidance and training from researchers at other participating institutions, facilitated by research visits, schools, and workshops.
For more information, click the link (title of this job posting).
Closing date for applications:
Contact: Christian Majenz, chmaj@dtu.dk
More information: https://www.dtu.dk/english/about/job-and-career/vacant-positions/job?id=daeafa63-78fe-4aa5-ad68-5c3d56c3b6ec
Canterbury, United Kingdom, 5 September - 8 September 2022
Event CalendarSubmission deadline: 11 April 2022
Notification: 6 June 2022
Paris, France, 12 December - 13 December 2022
Event CalendarSubmission deadline: 15 September 2022
Notification: 3 November 2022
21 August 2022
Guilherme Perin, Lichao Wu, Stjepan Picek
ePrint ReportIn this paper, we use information-theoretic metrics to explain the internal activities of deep neural network layers. We propose a novel methodology for the explainability of deep learning-based profiling side-channel analysis to understand the processing of secret masks. Inspired by the Information Bottleneck theory, our explainability methodology uses perceived information to explain and detect the different phenomena that occur in deep neural networks, such as fitting, compression, and generalization. We provide experimental results on masked AES datasets showing where, what, and why deep neural networks learn relevant features from input trace sets while compressing irrelevant ones, including noise. This paper opens new perspectives for the understanding of the role of different neural network layers in profiling side-channel attacks.
Aikata Aikata, Ahmet Can Mert, Malik Imran, Samuel Pagliarini, Sujoy Sinha Roy
ePrint Report$\texttt{KaLi}$, is explicitly tailored for ASIC platforms using multiple clock domains. On ASIC 28nm/65nm technology, it occupies 0.263/1.107 mm$^2$ and achieves a clock frequency of 2GHz/560MHz for the fast clock used for memory unit. On Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ZCU102 FPGA, the proposed architecture uses 23,277 LUTs, 9,758 DFFs, 4 DSPs, and 24 BRAMs, and achieves a 270 MHz clock frequency. $\texttt{KaLi}$, performs better than the standalone implementations of either of the two schemes. This is the first work that provides a unified design in hardware for both schemes.
Lijing Zhou, Ziyu Wang, Hongrui Cui, Qingrui Song, Yu Yu
ePrint ReportLorenzo Martinico, Aydin Abadi, Thomas Zacharias, Thomas Win
ePrint ReportAfonso Tinoco, Sixiang Gao, Elaine Shi
ePrint ReportTo achieve this, Signal implemented a naive batched linear scan algorithm that scans through the entire database for each batch of queries. Signal published a high-profile blog post arguing that for billion-sized databases, batched linear scan outperforms the asymptotically superior oblivious algorithms. While subsequent works revisited the same question, we still do not have conclusive evidence why Signal should use oblivious algorithms instead.
Our work is motivated by the observation that the previous enclave implementations of oblivious algorithms are sub-optimal both asymptotically and concretely. We make the key observation that for enclave applications, the number of page swaps should be a primary performance metric. We therefore adopt techniques from the external-memory algorithms literature, and we are the first to implement such algorithms inside hardware enclaves. We also devise asymptotically better algorithms for ensuring a strong notion of obliviousness that resists cache-timing attacks. We complement our algorithmic improvements with various concrete optimizations that save constant factors in practice. The resulting system, called EnigMap, achieves 5.5x speedup over Signal's linear scan implementation, and 21x speedup over the prior best oblivious algorithm implementation, at a realistic database size of 256 million and a batch size of 1000. The speedup is asymptotical in nature and will be even greater as Signal's user base grows.
Natnatee Dokmai, L. Jean Camp, Ryan Henry
ePrint ReportXavier Bultel, Cristina Onete
ePrint ReportBehnam Zahednejad
ePrint ReportHuachuang Sun, Haifeng Sun, Kevin Singh, Akhil Sai Peddireddy, Harshad Patil, Jianwei Liu, Weikeng Chen
ePrint Report**Maxwell-Zerocash switching:** There are two privacy-preserving transfer protocols on the Findora blockchain, one follows the Maxwell construction and uses Pedersen commitments over Ristretto, one follows the Zerocash construction and uses Rescue over BLS12-381. We present an efficient protocol to convert assets between these two constructions while preserving the privacy.
**Zerocash with secp256k1 keys:** Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many other chains do signatures on secp256k1. There is a strong need for ZK applications to not depend on special curves like Jubjub, but be compatible with secp256k1. Due to FFT unfriendliness of secp256k1, many proof systems (e.g., Groth16, Plonk, FRI) are infeasible. We present a solution using Bulletproofs over curve secq256k1 ("q") and delegated Schnorr which connects Bulletproofs to TurboPlonk over BLS12-381.
We conclude the paper with (im)possibility results about Zerocash with only access to a deterministic ECDSA signing oracle, which is the case when working with MetaMask. This result shows the limitations of the techniques in this paper. This paper is under a bug bounty program through a grant from Findora Foundation.