Cryptology is the foundation of everything secure
we push it towards practice

Group photo of the crypto area (Team Eichlseder & Team Rechberger)

Cryptology & Privacy

Our goal is to create, analyze, and optimize modern cryptographic schemes such that they can be broadly used in practice. In our research, we advance the state-of-the-art in cryptologic security and privacy by analyzing cryptographic foundations in depth and building on these insights to design secure and efficient cryptographic algorithms. The area features a unique combination of deep expertise in the design and cryptanalysis of symmetric cryptology with advanced cryptographic approaches such as multiparty computation, homomorphic encryption, and zero-knowledge proof systems. We design solutions for long-term security and address advanced threat scenarios such as post-quantum security and robustness against implementation attacks. Applications range from tiny IoT devices and RFID tags to cloud computing and machine learning. Get in touch with us if you're interested!
Team Eichlseder
We research symmetric cryptography and cryptanalysis to create efficient ciphers that are secure in both theory and practice. Our designs and attacks contribute to important crypto competitions, such as CAESAR (with final portfolio winner Ascon and cryptanalysis of other finalists) and NIST LWC (with ongoing submissions Ascon and ISAP). We're interested in new techniques and tools to establish cryptanalytic security as well as robustness against implementation attacks.

Team Members

Team Rechberger
We care about foundational as well as applied aspects of cryptologic security and privacy. From analyzing globally used cryptographic primitives like AES, proposing new quantum-safe cryptosystems like SPHINCS+ and Picnic for standardization, to making modern cryptographic approaches more efficient. Recent examples include supporting homomorphic encryption via Rasta, secure multiparty computation via LowMC and MiMC, zero-knowledge proof systems via Poseidon and Starkad, or the first solution for mobile private contact discovery practical for millions of users.

Team Members