Technology Innovation Institute appoints global cryptography leaders to Board of Advisors at Cryptography Research Centre

Abu Dhabi: Global experts in cryptography have been appointed to the Board of Advisors at the new Cryptography Research Centre (CRC), one of the initial seven dedicated centres of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC).

The appointments follow a series of rapid announcements at TII since the first ATRC board meeting in August 2020. 

CRC is one of the few global centres bringing together theoretical and applied cryptographers in a research-oriented setting. The cryptographers collaborate on breakthrough research projects that lead to innovative outcomes in cryptography. Spanning fields from post quantum cryptography (PQC), lightweight cryptography, cryptanalysis, cryptographic protocols, hardware-based cryptography, confidential computing, amongst others, the distinguished CRC Board of Advisors will guide efforts to develop breakthrough technologies for global impact, reinforcing Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s position as a global hub for innovation and research and development (R&D).

The Board of Advisors includes: Prof. Joan Daemen, Professor of Symmetric Cryptography at Radboud University in The Netherlands, who co-designed the Rijndael cipher that was selected as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and is one of the co-designers of the Keccak (SHA-3) cryptographic algorithm; Prof. Lejla Batina, Professor of Hardware Cryptography at Radboud University, whose expertise is in applied cryptography and embedded systems security; Dr Guido Bertoni, CEO of Security Pattern, Italy, whose research areas include cryptographic algorithms, hardware-based cryptography, applied cryptography and embedded systems security, and a co-designer of the Keccak (SHA-3) cryptographic algorithm; Prof. Carlos Aguilar, Professor of ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse University, France, a post quantum cryptographer and expert in secure cryptographic implementations and computational theory; Prof. Damien Stehlé, Professor in Computer Science at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France, whose focus areas are post quantum cryptography, computational theory and  complex algebra; and Prof. Tim Güneysu, Professor of Security Engineering at Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, who is an expert in secure hardware implementations, cloud cryptographic schemes and secure engineering.

CRC currently employs and collaborates with scientists in multiple crucial fields of cryptography. The experts are engaged in the full spectrum of fundamental and applied cryptography and cryptanalysis research.

Speaking on the board appointments, Dr Najwa Aaraj, Chief Researcher at CRC, said: “The success of any scientific and research-focused entity is led by its board of advisors as they support in setting the vision. By bringing together renowned experts, we are connecting global expertise in the field of cryptography.

“Through the research undertaken at the Cryptography Research Centre, we are confident that Abu Dhabi and the UAE will pioneer breakthrough technologies that ensure even greater enhancements in high-priority cryptographic areas.”

TII is a pioneering global research and development centre that focuses on applied research and new-age technology capabilities. The institute has seven initial dedicated research centres in quantum, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems. By working with exceptional talent, universities, research institutions and industry partners from all over the world, TII connects an intellectual community and contributes to building an R&D ecosystem in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. The institute reinforces Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a global hub for innovation and contributes to the broader development of the knowledge-based economy.

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About Technology Innovation Institute (TII):

Technology Innovation Institute, the dedicated ‘applied research’ pillar of Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), is a pioneering global research and development centre that focuses on applied research and new-age technology capabilities. The Institute has seven initial dedicated research centres in quantum, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems. By working with exceptional talent, universities, research institutions and industry partners from all over the world, the Institute connects an intellectual community and contributes to building an R&D ecosystem in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. The Institute reinforces Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a global hub for innovation and contributes to the broader development of the knowledge-based economy.

For more information, visit www.tii.ae 

About Cryptography Research Centre (CRC):

Cryptography Research Centre (CRC) – at Technology Innovation Institute (TII) – designs the building blocks of advanced cryptographic algorithms that enable data confidentiality, integrity, privacy, and non-repudiation. The Centre works in partnership with leading research advisors and institutions to research new cryptographic primitives covering design, analysis, implementation and implementation hardness, and the development of security protocols.

tii.ae/cryptographytii.ae/cryptography 

For media enquiries, please contact:
Aisha Shaikh
Technology Innovation Institute
aisha.shaikh@tii.ae

Profiles of Board of Advisors:

Prof. Joan Daemen: Professor of Symmetric Cryptography at Radboud University, The Netherlands. Dr Daemen, who is from Belgium, is an award-winning cryptographer and co-designed the Rijndael cipher with Vincent Rijmen, which was selected as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in 2001. More recently, he co-designed the Keccak cryptographic hash. He has also designed or co-designed a number of other ciphers such as MMB, Square, SHARK, and BaseKing block. In 2017, he won the Levchin Prize for Real World Cryptography for the development of AES and SHA-3.  He has co-authored scores of scientific articles. 

Prof. Lejla Batina: Professor of Hardware Cryptography at Radboud University and leader in hardware-based cryptography and applied cryptography and embedded systems security. Her research interests are in applied cryptography and embedded systems security. She has researched the security of embedded (crypto) devices such as smartcards, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Some of the topics she worked on include implementations of cryptography. Recently, she has been studying machine/deep learning for security and privacy and how it can be used for side-channel analysis.

Dr Guido Bertoni: CEO at Security Pattern, Italy, and leader in hardware-based cryptography and applied cryptography and embedded systems security. Dr Bertoni obtained a Dr Eng and PhD from Politecnico di Milano in 1999 and 2004, respectively. He worked in STMicroelectronics from 2003 to 2017, covering the role of Security & Cryptography Principal Engineer. In 2017, he founded Security Pattern together with Filippo Melzani. His research interests are cryptographic algorithms, attacks and implementations. Since 2006 he has been collaborating with Dr Joan Daemen, Michael Peeters and Gilles Van Assche in developing RadioGatún, Keccak (a.k.a. SHA-3) and other algorithms.

Prof. Carlos Aguilar: Professor at ISAE SUPAERO in Toulouse, France and leader in the post quantum cryptography field, secure cryptographic implementations and computational theory. A former student of the Ecole Polytechnique of Paris, France, Carlos Aguilar Melchor obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2006 at LAAS/CNRS (Toulouse) under the supervision of Yves Deswarte. His research domains are security, privacy, cryptography and artificial intelligence. In security and privacy, he has worked mainly on anonymous communications and on trust and replication issues on new generation networks. In cryptography, he has worked on various primitives such as private information retrieval, homomorphic encryption, ring signatures and public key encryption, with a special focus on the post-quantum setting. He has published 45 research papers in international journals and conferences.

Prof. Damien Stehlé: Professor in Computer Science at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France, Dr Stehlé heads the computer science department, and is a leader in post quantum cryptography, cryptography, computational theory and complex algebra. Professor Stehlé is a Member of the Institut Universitaire de France and Member of the AriC, LIP laboratory. His research focuses on the computational aspects of Euclidean lattices and their applications in cryptography. He has co-authored scores of scientific articles in his specialty.

Prof. Tim Güneysu: Professor of Security Engineering at Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, Prof Tim Güneysu is a leader in Secure Hardware Implementations. Since August 2017, he has been appointed Professor, Chair for Security Engineering, Dept. EEIT, at Ruhr-University Bochum and since November 2015he has also been Professor/Senior Researcher at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Dr Güneysu’s research focus includes: Security Engineering/Security-by-Design, CAD for Security; counter measures against Physical Attackers; Efficient and Long-Term Cryptographic Implementations; System Security on Hardware Level; and Cryptanalytic Platforms and Clusters. He has published several articles and papers in his field.

© Press Release 2020