Cryptanalysis Taskforce

Introduction

Established in 2014, we are a group of cryptography researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Our research focuses are symmetric-key cryptology and privacy-preserving technologies. We are physically hosted by the Division of Mathematical Sciences of the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, have been part of Temasek Laboratories @ NTU and Coding and Cryptography Research Group, and in collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

We are constantly looking for PhD candidates and Post-Doctoral Research Fellows, and maintain a regular visitor/exchange program, if you are interested in any of them, please contact Jian Guo.

We are grateful to our funders and sponsors:

News

2022/12: Together with Assoc Prof Pinaki Sengupta, our research proposal on "Complexity Analysis For Designing Efficient Quantum Algorithms" won the SPMS Collaborative Research Award 2022.
2022/12: Jian Guo was invited to talk at Asiacrypt 2022 on "Evolution of Cryptanalysis: Security Status of SHA-3 and AES Hashing".
2022/11: Joint with J. Guo, L. Song, and H. Wang, the paper entitled "Improved Related-Key Boomerang Attack against the Full AES-256" won the Best Paper Award of ACISP 2022. The paper improves the best related-key boomerang attack against the full AES-256 to lower time complexities at the cost of more data.
2022/07: Jian Guo is appointed as the Program Co-Chair of Asiacrypt 2023. References: news release by NTU/SPMS.
2022/03: Jian Guo has been awarded the SPMS Young Researcher Award 2021. References: news release by NTU/SPMS.
2022/02: NTU/SPMS new release on the organization of Asiacrypt 2021, Facebook, LinkedIn.
2021/12: Jian Guo has been elected to the IACR Board of Directors, thanks to the strong endosement by the IACR membership, he will do his best to promote research, education, and collaborations in the crypto community, espeically within the Asia-Pacific region. References: the IACR 2021 Election and news release by NTU/SPMS website, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
2021/03: PHOTON-Bettle is selected among the 10 finalists of NIST lightweight cryptography competition.
2021/03: News release on the MITM Preimage Attack against 8-Round AES hashing, by NTU/CoS Website, twitter, Facebook.
2019/12: Invited talk at ASK 2019 on "Generic Attacks on Hash Combiners" by Zhenzhen Bao.
2019/03: Invited talk at FSE 2019 on "Security of SHA-3 and Related Constructions" by Jian Guo.
2018-03-05: Joint with L. Song, J. Guo, and D. Shi, the paper entitled "New MILP Modeling: Improved Conditional Cube Attacks to Keccak-based Constructions" won the Kejte cryptanalysis prize.
2018-02-08: Joint with C. Chaigneau, T. Fuhr, H. Gilbert, J. Guo, J. Jean, J. R. Reinhard, L. Song, the paper entitled "Key-Recovery Attacks on Full Kravatte" won the Best Paper Award of FSE 2018. The paper broke the full Kravatte (a PRF design based on the SHA-3 round function), and several subsequent patched versions.
2017-10-29: New results on key recoveries on keyed constructions based on Keccak permutations and participation in the Ketje cryptanalysis competition.
2017-03-29: We received all 2 prizes of the SKINNY Cryptanalysis Competition 2016-2017, by the papers Related-Key Impossible-Differential Attack on Reduced-Round SKINNY and Security Analysis of SKINNY under Related-Tweakey Settings, refer to this announcement by the SKINNY team.
2017-02-26: We solved the 6-round collision challenge of Keccak[r=1440,c=160,nr=6], refer to this announcement and acknowledgement by the Keccak Team.
2016-12-12: Meicheng solved the 4-round preimage challenge of Keccak[r=1440, c=160, nr=4], refer to this announcement and acknowledgement by the Keccak Team.
2016-08-15: CLOC+SILC is selected into the 3rd round of CAESAR competition.
2016-08-01: PHOTON is now part of ISO lightweight hash function standards ISO/IEC 29192-5:2016.
2016-07-11: We solved the 5-round collision challenge of Keccak[r=640,c=160, nr=5], refer to this announcement and acknowledgement by the Keccak Team.
2016-05-27: We solved the 5-round collision challenge of Keccak[r=1440,c=160, nr=5], refer to this announcement and acknowledgement by the Keccak Team.
2016-04-25: We solved the 3-round preimage challenge of Keccak[r=1440, c=160, nr=3] and Keccak[r=640, c=160, nr=3], refer to this announcement and acknowledgement by the Keccak Team.

Open Positions

Recent Services

Current Members

Team Lead:

Jian Guo
Email: guojian@ntu.edu.sg
Interests: Symmetric-Key Cryptography, Privacy-Preserving Technologies

Associates:

Zhenzhen Bao
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Tsinghua University, China
Email: zzbao@tsinghua.edu.cn
Interests: Symmetric-Key Cryptography

Post-Doctoral Research Fellows:

Shiyao Chen
Email: shiyao.chen@ntu.edu.sg
Interests: Symmetric-Key Cryptography

Le He
Email: le.he@ntu.edu.sg
Interests: Symmetric-Key Cryptography

Shun Li
Email: shun.li@ntu.edu.sg
Interests: Symmetric-Key Cryptography, Privacy-Preserving Technologies, Quantum Cryptanalysis

Eik List
Email: eik.list@ntu.edu.sg
Interests: Symmetric-Key Cryptography, Provable Security

Guozhen Liu
Email: guozhen.liu@ntu.edu.sg
Interests: Symmetric-Key Cryptography

PhD Students:

Phuong Pham
Affiliation: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 07/2019 -
Topic: Quantum Cryptanalysis
Email: pham0079@e.ntu.edu.sg

Xingran Li
Affiliation: Interdisciplinary Graduate Programme, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 01/2022 -
Topic: Privacy-Preserving Technologies
Email: xingran001@e.ntu.edu.sg

Yiran Yao
Affiliation: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 07/2022 -
Topic: Cryptanalysis and Machine Learning
Email: yiran005@e.ntu.edu.sg

Wenjie Nan
Affiliation: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 01/2023 -
Topic: Cryptography for Privacy-Preserving Technologies
Email: wenjie006@e.ntu.edu.sg

Tianyu Zhang
Affiliation: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 07/2023 -
Topic: Quantum Cryptanalysis
Email: tianyu005@e.ntu.edu.sg

Undergraduate Students:

Exchange/Visitors:

Huina Li, PhD Student
Affiliation: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. 11/2021 -
Topic: Cryptanalysis
Email: lihuina@sjtu.edu.cn

Wenlong Tian, Assistant Professor
Affiliation: University of South China, China. 03/2022 -
Topic: Cloud Security
Email: wenlongtian@usc.edu.cn

Liu Zhang, PhD Student
Affiliation: Xidian University, China. 10/2022 -
Topic: Machine Learning based Cryptanalysis
Email: 17lzhang3@gmail.com

Jinyu Lu, PhD Student
Affiliation: National University of Defense Technology, China. 11/2022 -
Topic: Machine Learning based Cryptanalysis
Email: jinyu_smile@foxmail.com

Bin Hu, PhD Student
Affiliation: Beihang University, China. 11/2022 -
Topic: Threshold Cryptography
Email: hubin0205@buaa.edu.cn

Tianyi Li, Undergraduate Student
Affiliation: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. 06/2023 -
Topic: Threshold Cryptography
Email: ltetsla@sjtu.edu.cn

Zhuohan Cai, Undergraduate Student
Affiliation: Tsinghua University, China. 07/2023 -
Topic: Machine Learning based Cryptanalysis
Email: cai-zh19@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn


Alumni

Name Duration @ CATF Current Position

Phuong Pham 07/2019 - 08/2023 Huawei, Singapore

Yi Tu 07/2018 - 06/2022 Huawei, China
Zhenzhen Bao 12/2016 - 04/2022 Assistant Professor, Tsinghua University, China
Haoyang Wang 08/2016 - 12/2020 Assistant Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

Ling Song 02/2016 - 05/2019 Professor, Jinan University, China

Subhadeep Banik 03/2016 - 06/2017 Ambizione Fellow, EPFL, Switzerland

Meicheng Liu 05/2015 - 09/2016 Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Past Visitors

Tianren Liu Peking University, China 30/08/2023 - 06/09/2023
Lei Wang Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China 23/08/2023 - 26/08/2023
Danping Shi Institute of Information Engineering, China 05/08/2023 - 28/08/2023
Haoyang Wang Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China 24/07/2023 - 31/08/2023
Xiaoyang Dong Tsinghua University, China 08/07/2023 - 18/07/2023
Wenlong Tian University of South China, China 01/03/2022 -
Bing Sun National University of Defense Technology, China 17/01/2020 - 14/04/2020  
Senyang Huang Haifa University, Israel 17/09/2019 - 07/12/2019
Wenying Zhang Shandong Normal University, China 27/08/2018 - 20/08/2019
Zheng Gong South China Normal University, China 21/01/2019 - 15/02/2019
Kazuhiko Minematsu NEC, Japan 12/12/2018 - 14/12/2018
Tetsu Iwata Nagoya University, Japan 12/02/2018 - 22/02/2018
Tetsu Iwata Nagoya University, Japan 17/10/2016 - 31/03/2017
Jingmei Liu Xidian University, China 01/03/2016 - 01/03/2017
Lei Wang Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China 04/02/2017 - 10/02/2017
Vesselin Velichkov Luxembourg University, Luxembourg 12/12/2016 - 16/12/2016
Qingju Wang Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium 08/08/2016 - 15/10/2016
Florian Mendel Graz University of Technology, Austria 28/09/2015 - 30/10/2015
Lei Zhang Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 26/09/2015 - 10/10/2015
Lei Wang Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China 20/09/2015 - 04/10/2015
Liting Zhang Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 28/08/2015 - 27/10/2015
Bing Sun National University of Defense Technology, China 13/07/2015 - 12/10/2015
Bin Zhang Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 17/11/2014 - 21/11/2014 

Past (Exchange) Students

Zhuohan Cai Tsinghua University, China 11/07/2023 - 04/09/2023
Tianyi Li Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China 15/06/2023 - 15/09/2023
Jinyu Lu National University of Defense Technology, China 04/11/2022 -
Bin Hu Beihang University, China 13/10/2022 -
Liu Zhang Xidian University, China 01/10/2022 -
Huina Li Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China 05/11/2021 -
Yicheng Zhu Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 01/08/2022 - 30/11/2022
Liheng Ji Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China 03/08/2022 - 28/12/2022
Huaijin Wu Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China 01/09/2021 - 07/01/2022
Tianyu Zhang Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 27/07/2021 - 31/07/2023
Eik List Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany 03/02/2020 - 21/02/2020
Yucheng Chen Guangzhou University, China 03/12/2019 - 02/12/2020
Li Ma Institute of Information Engineering, China 20/11/2019 - 20/05/2020
Jiayuan Ye University of Science and Technology of China 04/07/2019 - 30/09/2019
Yongqing Li Shandong University, China 25/07/2019 - 16/09/2019
Shun Li Institute of Information Engineering, China 03/05/2019 - 17/05/2019
Phuong Pham Thi Minh VNU University of Science, Vietnam 21/01/2019 - 20/04/2019
Eik List Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany 21/01/2019 - 08/02/2019
Tao Ye Guilin University of Electronic Technology, China 19/11/2018 - 18/12/2018
Xianrui Qin Shandong University, China 14/09/2018 - 10/12/2018
Tingting Cui Shandong University, China 10/02/2017 - 25/08/2017
Jiale Guo Shandong University, China 10/11/2016 - 02/03/2017
Ning Luo Shandong University, China 10/11/2016 - 14/02/2017
Guozhen Liu Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China 15/07/2016 - 31/02/2017
Guohong Liao South China Normal University, China 15/07/2016 - 12/10/2016
Kexin Qiao Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 01/12/2015 - 31/05/2016
Haoyang Wang Shandong University, China 01/08/2015 - 31/08/2015
Jingyuan Zhao Shandong University, China 17/02/2015 - 16/05/2015

Publications (from 2016)

2023

[060] X. Dong, S. Li, P. Pham, G. Zhang: Quantum Attacks on Hash Constructions with Low Quantum Random Access Memory, ASIACRYPT 2023
[059] Z. Bao, J. Lu, Y. Yao, L. Zhang: More Insight on Deep Learning-aided Cryptanalysis, ASIACRYPT 2023
[058] H. Li, L. He, S. Chen, J. Guo, W. Qiu: Automatic Preimage Attack Framework on Ascon Using a Linearize-and-Guess Approach, FSE 2024/ToSC 2023 Issue 3
[057] S. Chen, C. Guo, J. Guo, L. Liu, M. Wang, P. Wei, Z. Xu: Towards the Links of Cryptanalytic Methods on MPC/FHE/ZK-Friendly Symmetric-Key Primitives, FSE 2024/ToSC 2023 Issue 2

2022

[056] S. Chen, C. Guo, J. Guo, L. Liu, M. Wang, P. Wei, Z. Xu: Related-Key Differential Cryptanalysis of GMiMC Used in Post-Quantum Signatures, ICISC 2022
[055] Z. Bao, J. Guo, S. Li, P. Pham: Evaluating the Security of Merkle-Damgård Hash Functions and Combiners in Quantum Settings, NSS 2022
[054] G. Liu, S. Li, P. Pham: Rebound Attacks on SKINNY hashing with Automatic Tools, NSS 2022
[053] J. Guo, G. Liu, L. Song, Y. Tu: Exploring SAT for Cryptanalysis: (Quantum) Collision Attacks against 6-Round SHA-3, ASIACRYPT 2022
[052] Z. Bao, J. Guo, M. Liu, L. Ma, Y. Tu: Enhancing Differential-Neural Cryptanalysis, ASIACRYPT 2022
[051] X. Dong, J. Guo, S. Li, P. Pham: Triangulating Rebound Attack on AES-like Hashing, CRYPTO 2022
[050] Z. Bao, J. Guo, D. Shi, Y. Tu: Superposition Meet-in-the-Middle Attacks: Updates on Fundamental Security of AES-like Hashing,  CRYPTO 2022
[049] J. Guo, L. Song, H. Wang: Key Structures: Improved Related-Key Boomerang Attack against the Full AES-256, ACISP 2022
              ~ Best Paper Award ~

2021

[048] B. Sun, K. Li, J. Guo, L. Qu: New Constructions of Complete Permutations, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory
[047] Z. Bao, X. Dong, J. Guo, Z. Li,  D. Shi, S. Sun, X. Wang: Automatic Search of Meet-in-the-Middle Preimage Attacks on AES-like Hashing, EUROCRYPT 2021 [NTU News Release]

2020

[046] S. Banik, Z. Bao, T. Isobe, H. Kubo, F. Liu, K. Minematsu, K. Sakamoto, N. Shibata, M. Shigeri: WARP: Revisiting GFN for Lightweight 128-bit Block Cipher, SAC 2020
[045] Z. Bao, J. Guo, E. List: Extended Truncated-differential Distinguishers on Round-reduced AES, FSE 2020/ToSC 2020 Issue 3
[044] C. Guo, J. Guo, E. List, L. Song: Towards Closing The Security Gap of Tweak-aNd-Tweak (TNT), ASIACRYPT 2020
[043] Z. Xiang, X. Zeng, D. Lin, Z. Bao, S. Zhang: Optimizing Implementations of Linear Layers, FSE 2020/ToSC 2020 Issue 2
[042] Z. Bao, C. Guo, J. Guo, L. Song: TNT: How to Tweak a Block Cipher, EUROCRYPT 2020

2019

[041] G. Liu, W. Qiu, Y. Tu: New Techniques for Searching Differential Trails in Keccak, FSE 2020/ToSC 2019 Issue 4
[040] Z. Bao, L. Ding, J. Guo, H. Wang, W. Zhang: Improved Meet-in-the-Middle Preimage Attacks against AES Hashing Modes, FSE 2020/ToSC 2019 Issue 4
[039] W. Zhang, M. Cao, J. Guo, E. Pasalic: Improved Security Evaluation of SPN Block Ciphers and its Applications in the Single-key Attack on SKINNY, FSE 2020/ToSC 2019 Issue 4
[038] Z. Bao, J. Guo, T. Iwata, K. Minematsu: ZOCB and ZOTR: Tweakable Blockcipher Modes for Authenticated Encryption with Full Absorption, FSE 2020/ToSC 2019 Issue 2
[037] Z. Bao, I. Dinur, J. Guo, G. Leurent, L. Wang: Generic Attacks on Hash Combiners, Journal of Cryptology 2019 [web]
[036] J. Guo, G. Liao, G. Liu, M. Liu, K. Qiao, L. Song: Practical Collision Attacks against Round-Reduced SHA-3, Journal of Cryptology 2019 [web]
[035] L. Song, X. Qin, L. Hu: Boomerang Connectivity Table Revisited: Applications to SKINNY and AES, FSE 2019/ToSC 2019 Issue 1
[034] Z. Bao, J. Guo, S. Ling, Y. Sasaki: PEIGEN – a Platform for Evaluation, Implementation, and Generation of S-boxes, FSE 2019/ToSC 2019 Issue 1 [web]
[033] R. Ankele, C. Dobraunig, J. Guo, E. Lambooij, G. Leander, Y. Todo: Zero-Correlation Attacks on Tweakable Block Ciphers with Linear Tweakey Expansion, FSE 2019/ToSC 2019 Issue 1

2018

[032] C. Cid, T. Huang, T. Peyrin, Y. Sasaki, L. Song: Boomerang Connectivity Table: a New Cryptanalysis Tool, EUROCRYPT 2018
[031] Z. Bao, J. Guo, L. Wang: Functional Graph and Its Applications in Generic Attacks on Iterated Hash Constructions, FSE 2018 / ToSC 2018 Issue 1 [Experiment codes]
[030] C. Chaigneau, T. Fuhr, H. Gilbert, J. Guo, J. Jean, J. R. Reinhard, L. Song: Key-Recovery Attacks on Full Kravatte, FSE 2018 / ToSC 2018 Issue 1
                ~ the Best Paper Award, invited to JoC ~
[029] P. Derbez, T. Iwata, L. Sun, S. Sun, Y. Todo, H. Wang, Meiqin Wang: Cryptanalysis of AES-PRF and Its Dual, FSE 2019 / ToSC 2018 Issue 2
[028] L. Song, J. Guo, D. Shi, S. Ling: New MILP Modeling: Improved Conditional Cube Attacks on Keccak-based Constructions, ASIACRYPT 2018 [Verification codes][Model]
[027] L. Song, J. Guo: Cube-Attack-Like Cryptanalysis of Round-Reduced Keccak Using MILP, FSE 2019/ToSC 2018 Issue 3 [Verification codes]
[026] Y. Liu, Y. Sasaki, L. Song, G. Wang, Cryptanalysis of Reduced sLiSCP Permutation in Sponge-Hash and Duplex-AE Modes, SAC 2018

2017

[025] Z. Bao, L. Wang, J. Guo, D. Gu: Functional Graph Revisited: Updates on (Second) Preimage Attacks on Hash Combiners, CRYPTO 2017. [Experiment codes]
[024] L. Song, G. Liao, J. Guo: Non-Full Sbox Linearization: Applications to Collision Attacks on Round-Reduced Keccak, CRYPTO 2017. [Keccak GPU implementations]
[023] K. Qiao, L. Song, M. Liu, J. Guo: New Collision Attacks on Round-Reduced Keccak, EUROCRYPT 2017.
[022] S. Banik, S. Pandey, T. Peyrin, Y. Sasaki, S. Sim, Y. Todo: GIFT: A Small Present, CHES 2017.
[021] S. Banik, T. Isobe, T. Cui, J. Guo: Some Cryptanalysis Results on Lizard, FSE 2018 / ToSC 2017 Issue 4
[020] G. Liu, M. Ghosh, L. Song: Security Analysis of SKINNY under Related-Tweakey Settings, FSE 2018 / ToSC 2017 Issue 3
[019] C. Cid, T. Huang, T. Peyrin, Y. Sasaki, L. Song: Cryptanalysis of Deoxys and its Internal Tweakable Block Ciphers, FSE 2018 / ToSC 2017 Issue 3
[018] S. Banik, A. Bogdanov, T. Isobe, M. B. Jepsen: Analysis of Software Countermeasures for Whitebox Encryption, FSE 2017 / ToSC 2017 Issue 1.
[017] S. Banik, A. Bogdanov, F. Regazzoni: Efficient Configurations for Block Ciphers with Unified ENC/DEC Paths. IEEE HOST 2017
[016] G. Zhang, M. Liu, A distinguisher on PRESENT-like permutations with application to SPONGENT, Journal of Science China Information Sciences, 2017
[015] S. Banik, T. Isobe and M. Morii: Analysis and Improvements of the Full Spritz Stream Cipher, IEICE Transactions A, 2017.
[014] R. Ankele, S. Banik, A. Chakrabarti, E. List, F. Mendel, S. Sim, G. Wang: Related Key Impossible Differential Attack on Reduced Round SKINNY, ACNS 2017.

2016

[013] L. Wang, J. Guo, G. Zhang, J. Zhao, D. Gu: How to Build Fully Secure Tweakable Blockciphers from Classical Blockciphers, ASIACRYPT 2016.
[012] J. Guo, M. Liu, L. Song: Linear Structures: Applications to Cryptanalysis of Round-Reduced Keccak, ASIACRYPT 2016.
[011] B. Sun, M. Liu, J. Guo, L. Qu, V. Rijmen: New Insights on AES-Like SPN Ciphers, CRYPTO 2016.
[010] B. Sun, M. Liu, J. Guo, V. Rijmen, R. Li: Provable Security Evaluation of Structures against Impossible Differential and Zero Correlation Linear Cryptanalysis, EUROCRYPT 2016.
[009] M. Liu, S. Sim: Lightweight MDS Generalized Circulant Matrices, FSE 2016.
[008] S. Banik, T. Isobe: Cryptanalysis of the Full Spritz Stream Cipher, FSE 2016.
[007] J. Guo, J. Jean, I. Nikolić, Y. Sasaki: Meet-in-the-Middle Attacks on Classes of Contracting and Expanding Feistel Constructions, FSE 2017 / ToSC 2016 Issue 2.
[006] J. Guo, J. Jean, I. Nikolić, K. Qiao, Y. Sasaki, S. M. Sim: Invariant Subspace Attack Against Midori64 and The Resistance Criteria for S-box Designs, FSE 2017 / ToSC 2016 Issue 1.
[005] S. Banik, A. Bogdanov, T. Fanni, C. Sau, L. Raffo, F. Palumbo, F. Regazzoni: Adaptable AES Implementation with Power gating Support, ACM Computing Frontiers 2016.
[004] L. Song, Z. Huang, Q. Yang: Automatic Differential Analysis of ARX Block Ciphers with Application to SPECK and LEA, ACISP 2016.
[003] D. Sijacic, A. Kidmose, B. Yang, S. Banik, B. Bilgin, A. Bogdanov, I. Verbauwhede: Hold your breath, PRIMATEs are lightweight, SAC 2016.
[002] S. Jha, S. Banik, T. Isobe, T. Ohigashi. Some results on the use of RC4 in TLS, Indocrypt 2016.
[001] S. Banik, A. Bogdanov, F. Regazzoni. Atomic-AES: A Compact Implementation of the AES Encryption/Decryption Core, Indocrypt 2016.