ASK 2026 features working-group discussions in the afternoons. We aim to form several small groups, each focused on a specific topic, to foster collaboration and produce tangible research progress.

The following sub-topics are simply intended as a framework to help ensure everyone is paired with fellow researchers sharing similar interests. We recognize that research in symmetric cryptography often crosses these boundaries.

Group List

WG1 — Cryptanalysis

  • WG1-1: Classical Cryptanalysis
    Broadly covering foundational cryptanalysis of primitives, including block ciphers, stream ciphers, permutations, hash functions, MACs, and AEAD.
    Group A: Dhiman Saha (Leader), Alexander Bille, Keita Ishizuka, Xiaoen Lin, Zhuoxi Lin, Yong Liu, Zhengrong Lu

    Group B: Antonio Florez-Gutierrez (Leader), Debasmita Chakraborty, Haoran Li, María Naya-Plasencia, Ricardo Rodriguez-Reveco, Qianqian Yang, Zhongxin Zhang, Zhuolong Zhang

    Group C: Gaëtan Leurent (Leader), Merlin Fruchon, Jiahui He, Huimin Liu, Florent Mazelet, Patrick Neumann, Ling Song, Xiaomeng Sun, Zhiyu Zhang
  • WG1-2: Automated & AI-Assisted Cryptanalysis
    Focusing on the use of automated tools (e.g., SAT/SMT/MILP/CP solvers) and machine learning techniques in cryptanalytic tasks.
    Group A: Roberto Avanzi, Zhenzhen Bao, Jhelum Dhar, Patrick Derbez, Anup Kumar Kundu, Jinyu Lu, Dilip Sau, Jianhua Wang, Wenhui Wu

    Group B: Dachao Wang (Leader), Chengcheng Chang, Tor Kristian Ellingsen, Simon Gerhalter, Hosein Hadipour, Huina Li, Guozhen Liu, Bastien Michel, Yantian Shen
  • WG1-3: Quantum Cryptanalysis
    Exploring quantum algorithms for security margin estimations in a post-quantum context.
    Group: Xavier Bonnetain, Suman Dutta, Shiqi Hou, Shun Li, Qun Liu, Aurel Pichollet-Mugnier, Danping Shi, Zhili Wu
  • WG1-4: Security Evaluation of AI Models
    Applying cryptanalytic methodologies to assess the robustness and privacy of AI systems.
    Group: Tim Beyne (Leader), Nitesh Singh Bhadouria, Shiyao Chen, Wonseok Choi, Baptiste Germon, Guilhem Jazeron, Sajani Kundu, Yevhen Perehuda, Xiaokang Qi, Yiran Yao

WG2 — Next-Gen Design

  • WG2-1: General-Purpose & Standardized Design
    Focusing on high-performance primitives intended for standardized use in classical environments.
    Group: Avik Chakraborti (Leader), Elena Andreeva, Andreas Minne, Shichang Wang, Xiaobin Yu, Bin Zhang
  • WG2-2: Provable Security & Modes of Operation
    Design and security proofs for modes (AEAD, Tweakable frameworks, MACs) and theoretical constructions.
    Group A: Ritam Bhaumik (Leader), Ravindra Jejurikar, Sunyeop Kim, César Mathéus, Hrithik Nandi, Yaobin Shen, Xiangyang Zhang

    Group B: Tetsu Iwata (Leader), Yuchao Chen, Shreya Dey, Jonathan Fuchs, Dounia M'foukh, Kazuhiko Minematsu, Soumit Pal, Yuxiang Wang
  • WG2-3: Arithmetization-Oriented Primitives
    Design and analysis of primitives optimized for privacy-preserving protocols such as ZK, MPC, and FHE.
    Group: Christian Rechberger (Leader), Xingran Li, Fukang Liu, Chongxu Ren, Tianhao Wang, Tianning Wang, Yuntao Wang, Hailun Yan, Jiaqi Zheng
  • WG2-4: Specialized & Scenario-Oriented Primitives
    Design and analysis of primitives targeting specific constraints: e.g., Low-Latency, Lightweight/IoT, or hardware-specific optimizations.
    Group: Shahram Rasoolzadeh (Leader), Jens Alich, Bishwajit Chakraborty, Shibam Ghosh, Kai Hu, Tao Huang, Shuo Peng, Phuong Pham
  • WG2-5: Quantum Provable Security
    Group: Xiaoning Guo, Ashwin Jha, Sougata Mandal, Wenjie Nan, Abishanka Saha, Rentaro Shiba, Amlan Sinha

WG3 — Implementation & Physical Security

  • WG3-2: Physical Attacks & Countermeasures
    Side-channel analysis, fault injection, and protected implementations.
    Group: Enrico Piccione (Leader), Yanhong Fan, Ruiyang Li, Yufeng Tang


Room Arrangement & Available Period

Room no. Thu, Mar 19 Fri, Mar 20 Sat, Mar 21 Sun, Mar 22
SPMS
SPMS-TR+3 (04-06) WG1-1B
13:00-17:30
WG1-1B
13:00-17:30
WG1-1B
13:00-17:30
SPMS-TR+5 (04-04) WG1-2B
13:00-17:30
SPMS-TR+6 (04-03) WG1-1C
13:00-17:30
WG1-1C
13:00-17:30
WG1-1C
13:00-17:30
SPMS-TR+7 (04-02) WG1-1A
13:00-17:30
WG1-1A
13:00-17:30
SPMS-TR+8 (04-12) WG1-2B
13:00-17:30
WG1-2B
13:00-17:30
SPMS-TR+10 (04-10) WG1-2A
13:00-17:30
WG1-2A
13:00-17:30
WG1-2A
13:00-17:30
SPMS-TR+12 (05-06) WG1-3
13:00-17:30
WG1-3
13:00-17:30
SPMS-TR+16 (05-02) Free for all
09:00-20:00
North spine
TR+21 (NS4-05-99) WG2-2B
13:00-18:00
Free for all
13:00-17:30
Free for all
13:00-17:30
TR+22 (NS4-05-100) WG2-3
13:00-18:00
TR+29 (NS2-05-22) WG1-4
13:00-17:30
The Hive
LHS-TR+24 (B2-01) WG1-4
14:30-17:30
WG1-4
13:00-17:30
LHS-TR+25 (B2-02) WG2-4
14:00-18:00
WG2-4
14:30-18:00
WG2-4
13:00-18:00
LHS-TR+26 (B2-03) WG2-2A
14:00-17:30
WG2-2A
13:00-17:30
LHS-TR+30 (B2-07) WG2-2B
14:30-17:30
WG2-2B
13:00-17:30
LHS-TR+35 (B1-01) WG2-3
13:00-18:00
LHS-TR+38 (B1-04) WG2-1
14:30-17:30
WG2-1
13:00-17:30
LHS-TR+42 (B1-08) WG1-1A + WG2-1
13:00-18:00
WG3-2
13:00-18:00
LHS-TR+46 (01-05) WG2-5
13:30-18:00
WG2-5
13:30-18:00
LHS-TR+48 (02-02) Free for all
08:30-17:00
LHS-TR+49 (02-03) WG1-3 + WG2-5
13:00-18:00
Free for all
08:30-17:00
LHS-TR+50 (02-04) Free for all
08:30-17:00
LHS-TR+51 (02-05) WG2-2A + WG3-2
13:30-18:00
WG2-3
13:00-18:00
Free for all
08:30-17:00
LHS-TR+52 (02-06) Free for all
08:30-17:00
LHS-TR+53 (02-07) Free for all
08:30-17:00
LHS-TR+54 (02-08) WG3-2
13:00-18:00
Free for all
08:30-17:00
LHS-TR+55 (03-01) Free for all
08:30-17:00