Prof. Erkay Savaş is an expert in the fields of cryptography, data and communication security, privacy in biometrics, trusted computing, security and privacy in data mining applications, embedded systems security, and distributed systems. He is the director of the Cryptography and Information Security Group (CISec) of Sabanci University.

Proposed activities for the project:

Prof. Savas can directly contribute to the following expected outputs of the projects:

• Measuring, assessing and standardizing/certifying future-proof cryptography:
Prof. Savas can collaborate with researchers who have expertise in quantum algorithms that can be used to attack post-quantum cryptographic primitives to assess the feasibility and practicality of such attacks in terms of computation power, memory and other resources. This way, he can contribute to choosing the correct security parameters for a given cryptographic algorithm family such as key length, which provides sufficient security against quantum and classical computer attacks. He can provide a highly accurate assessment of the implementation budget of future-proof cryptography in terms of hardware footprint and other resources, which is one of the determining factors in the standardization process.

• Addressing gaps between the theoretical possibilities offered by quantum resistant cryptography and its practical implementations:
Prof. Savas can develop algorithms, techniques, methods, and hardware architectures for secure, lightweight and efficient implementations of post-quantum cryptography algorithms. These endeavors serve to measure and assess the feasibility of using quantum resistant cryptography algorithms in a wide range of applications with different requirements and constraints such as high speed, low power, and area efficiency. He can also develop techniques to protect the implementations against powerful attacks such as various types of side-channel and fault attacks. He will develop test infrastructure to test the actual strength of the implementations against these attacks.

• Quantum resistant cryptographic primitives and protocols encompassed in security solutions:
He can devise security solutions using quantum-resistant cryptographic primitives and protocols that can realize not only classical security services such as confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation but also advanced security properties such as forward secrecy and plausible deniability, which are increasingly sought after in messaging applications. His expertise in lattice-based homomorphic encryption algorithms, which are also quantum resistant, will be instrumental for other upcoming popular applications in the area of privacy enhancing technologies.

• Solutions and methods that could be used to migrate from current cryptography towards future-proof cryptography:
Prof. Savas will develop a migration strategy that consists of two phases. In the first phase, he envisions a transition to hybrid systems, in which both classical and quantum resistant cryptographic primitives are used. The envisioned hybrid cryptographic solutions are compromised only when both classical and quantum resistant primitives are broken. The second transition phase, which is the migration to security solutions using only quantum resistant cryptographic primitives, can start only when the latter primitives reach cryptographic maturity that is on par with the current strength of the classical cryptographic primitives against classical computer attacks. A clear and detailed plan is needed for smooth migration as there may exist aggravated security risks that can be managed with careful planning.

• Preparedness for secure information exchange and processing in the advent of large-scale quantum attacks:
Secure, fast and efficient implementations of quantum resistant cryptographic primitives and protocols and clear and well-documented plan for the migration to future-proof cryptography are two important imperatives for protecting information exchange and processing against large-scale quantum attacks. Also, lessons and experience gained from the actual deployment of quantum-resistant cryptography in real-world use case scenarios and all germane challenges in the process are also needed for the said preparedness. Prof. Savas can engage and collaborate with one of the largest manufacturers of household appliances in Turkey and Europe to deploy quantum resistant cryptography in IoT use case scenarios. Such large-scale deployment in resource-constrained devices will provide unique set of best practices for the deployment in the other areas and enhance our level of preparedness against quantum attacks.

If you are interested in collaboration please send an email to bunyamin.yagcitekin@sabanciuni....

Best Wishes,
Bunyamin