GAPS 2026 Workshop
The 2nd Workshop on Generic Attacks and Proofs in Symmetric Cryptography (GAPS), organized by Prof. Elena Andreeva and Prof. Stefan Lucks, brings together leading experts and early-career researchers in provable security for symmetric cryptography to reflect on three decades of progress in practice-oriented provable security and to explore new directions for future research. Building on foundational advances in modern cryptography, the workshop addresses developments in security notions, proof techniques, and tight security bounds, as well as emerging challenges arising from real-world applications.
The programme features invited talks, plenary discussions, and focused group sessions on topics including tight security bounds, general proof techniques, new security notions, post-quantum security, proof-driven approaches for zero-knowledge proofs and secure computation, arithmetization-oriented cryptography, leakage and fault resilience, and automated verification of security proofs.
Confirmed speakers include:
- Phillip Rogaway (formerly UC Davis),
- Mihir Bellare (UC San Diego),
- Kazuhiko Minematsu (NEC Corporation),
- Ashwin Jha (University of Wuppertal),
- Bart Mennink (Maastricht University),
- Christian Majenz (Technical University of Denmark),
- Julia Len (UNC Chapel Hill),
- Jean Paul Degabriele (Technology Innovation Institute),
- Hrithik Nandi (Institute for Advancing Intelligence, TCG CREST).
The format combines invited presentations with extensive discussions and collaborative work in smaller groups. The programme begins with the presentation and selection of research topics, followed by dedicated discussion and working sessions designed to foster in-depth exchange on open problems and promising research directions.
GAPS 2026 is supported by WWTF CrossPings, the Ethereum Foundation, and the Cybersecurity Center TU Wien.