PhD Position F/M Security of ASCON and Lightweight Symmetric Primitives against Quantum Attackers
Type de contrat : CDD
Niveau de diplôme exigé : Bac + 5 ou équivalent
Fonction : Doctorant
A propos du centre ou de la direction fonctionnelle
The Inria Centre at Rennes University is one of Inria's eight centres and has more than thirty research teams. The Inria Centre is a major and recognized player in the field of digital sciences. It is at the heart of a rich R&D and innovation ecosystem: highly innovative PMEs, large industrial groups, competitiveness clusters, research and higher education players, laboratories of excellence, technological research institute, etc.
Contexte et atouts du poste
This PhD position takes place within the ASCON-CAT project, which studies the resistance of the
ASCON cipher family against quantum attacks. ASCON-CAT aims at combining the expertise of its
members in cryptography, quantum computing and physical implementations to assess the security
levels of ASCON, and increase our understanding of the quantum security of symmetric cryptosystems
as a whole.
In 2018, the NIST launched a competition to select a new family of lightweight symmetric authenti-
cated encryption algorithms, therefore recognizing the importance that lightweight cryptography has
taken in industrial applications and research. After five years of competition, ASCON was selected
for standardization, and is now expected to become a major commercial standard. In parallel,
many other lightweight designs have been proposed throughout the competition and later on.
Mainstream symmetric primitives are widely believed to retain a good level of security against
hypothetical quantum adversaries. However, the past few years have shown that a lot can be
said about the quantum security of symmetric ciphers.The goal of ASCON-CAT is to tackle
this challenge on the high-profile target ASCON. Within this project, the goal of this PhD
will be to analyze the impact of quantum cryptanalysis families on ASCON and develop
dedicated attacks.
The ASCON-CAT project is a collaboration between Alice&Bob (Paris), Thales SIX (Gennevilliers)
and Inria Rennes.The PhD student will be jointly supervised with the cryptography group at
Thales SIX and is expected to collaborate regularly with the group.
Mission confiée
The PhD candidate will study different categories of attacks and analyze their impact
on the ASCON cipher family and related targets. These categories will notably include:
- Linear and differential attacks
- Algebraic attacks (including Meet-in-the-middle attacks on hashing or Duplex encryption modes
It is expected that some of the observations made on ASCON and / or cryptanalysis techniques will
lead to results on other similar lightweight primitives.
More information on the research to be carried out in this project as well as relevant
bibliographic references are available on this document.
Principales activités
The PhD candidate will contribute to the research activities of the CAPSULE team
and collaborate with the ASCON-CAT project partners.
- Analyze existing families of attacks and build a bibliography of applicable attacks
- Design new attack algorithms and analyze their costs
The candidate will also communicate her/his work through publications and
communications in conferences, workshops or seminars.
Compétences
The ideal candidate will have the following skills:
- A strong level in English for written and oral communication
- Relational skills (working in a team)
- A background in cryptography and / or algorithmics
- Programming skills in Python or other languages
- Notions of quantum computing
Avantages
- Subsidized meals
- Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
- Possibility of teleworking (90 days per year) and flexible organization of working hours
- Partial payment of insurance costs
Rémunération
Monthly gross salary: 2100€ during the 2 1st years and 2200€ during the 3rd year.
Informations générales
- Thème/Domaine : Algorithmique, calcul formel et cryptologie
- Ville : Rennes
- Centre Inria : Centre Inria de l'Université de Rennes
- Date de prise de fonction souhaitée : 2024-10-01
- Durée de contrat : 3 ans
- Date limite pour postuler : 2024-08-22
Attention: Les candidatures doivent être déposées en ligne sur le site Inria. Le traitement des candidatures adressées par d'autres canaux n'est pas garanti.
Consignes pour postuler
Please submit online : your resume, cover letter and letters of recommendation eventually
Sécurité défense :
Ce poste est susceptible d’être affecté dans une zone à régime restrictif (ZRR), telle que définie dans le décret n°2011-1425 relatif à la protection du potentiel scientifique et technique de la nation (PPST). L’autorisation d’accès à une zone est délivrée par le chef d’établissement, après avis ministériel favorable, tel que défini dans l’arrêté du 03 juillet 2012, relatif à la PPST. Un avis ministériel défavorable pour un poste affecté dans une ZRR aurait pour conséquence l’annulation du recrutement.
Politique de recrutement :
Dans le cadre de sa politique diversité, tous les postes Inria sont accessibles aux personnes en situation de handicap.
Contacts
- Équipe Inria : CAPSULE
-
Directeur de thèse :
Schrottenloher Andre / andre.schrottenloher@inria.fr
L'essentiel pour réussir
A propos d'Inria
Inria est l’institut national de recherche dédié aux sciences et technologies du numérique. Il emploie 2600 personnes. Ses 215 équipes-projets agiles, en général communes avec des partenaires académiques, impliquent plus de 3900 scientifiques pour relever les défis du numérique, souvent à l’interface d’autres disciplines. L’institut fait appel à de nombreux talents dans plus d’une quarantaine de métiers différents. 900 personnels d’appui à la recherche et à l’innovation contribuent à faire émerger et grandir des projets scientifiques ou entrepreneuriaux qui impactent le monde. Inria travaille avec de nombreuses entreprises et a accompagné la création de plus de 200 start-up. L'institut s'efforce ainsi de répondre aux enjeux de la transformation numérique de la science, de la société et de l'économie.