Maria Eichlseder
Assoc.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. BSc BScCryptology & Privacy, Associate Professor
Maria Eichlseder is associate professor in Cryptography at Graz University of Technology.
Her research interests include the design and cryptanalysis of symmetric cryptographic algorithms, such as hash functions and authenticated encryption algorithms and their underlying primitives.
She co-designed Ascon, a lightweight authenticated cipher that was selected by NIST as new standard for lightweight cryptography in 2023. She defended her Ph.D. sub auspiciis praesidentis in 2018 and visited Ruhr-Universität Bochum and Radboud University Nijmegen as a guest researcher. Prior, she studied Computer Science and Technical Mathematics at Graz University of Technology.
She has received several awards for her work, including an ERC Starting Grant in 2025.
Research
My research interests include the design and cryptanalysis of symmetric cryptographic algorithms, such as hash functions and authenticated encryption algorithms and their underlying primitives: permutations, (tweakable) block ciphers, etc. In my research, I am particularly interested in their "practical security", which includes robustness against misuse and implementation attacks in addition to cryptanalytic security. I enjoy exploring mathematical aspects of cryptanalysis, useful tools and heuristics, and connections between cryptanalytic and physical attacks. Online resources on selected research topics:- Ascon, a family of authenticated ciphers and hash functions selected in the NIST lightweight crypto standardization process and winner in the "lightweight" category of the CAESAR competition
- ISAP, a lightweight authenticated cipher designed for robustness against side-channel attacks and finalist in the NIST lightweight crypto standardization process
- CASTLE tools, some of my research team's cryptanalysis tools and source code for our papers
- Malicious SHA-1
Teaching
I teach cryptography as part of several undergraduate and graduate courses (see TUGRAZonline):- Information Security (lecture: winter term 2023/24, 2022/23, 2021/22, 2020/21, 2019/20)
- Cryptography (lecture and practicals: winter term 2023/24, 2022/23 (awarded the Prize for Excellence in Teaching), 2021/22, 2020/21)
- Cryptanalysis (lecture/seminar and practicals: summer term 2023/24, 2022/23, 2021/22 2020/21)
- Introduction to Scientific Working (seminar: winter term 2023/24, 2020/21–2022/23)
- Applied Cryptography (lecture and practicals: 2014/15–2019/20, see "Cryptography")
- Applied Cryptography 2 (lecture/seminar and practicals: 2014/15–2019/20, see "Cryptanalysis")
- Computermathematik (lecture with integrated practicals: 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16)
- Diskrete Stochastik und Informationstheorie (practicals: 2013/14)
- Erstellung wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten mit LaTeX (Interne Weiterbildung: 2014/15–2017/18)
Service
Reviewing
Peer-reviewing as a Program Committee or Editorial Board member:- 2024: Eurocrypt 2024, FSE 2024 / ToSC 23/24, ToSC 24/25, DCC; co-chair of SAC 2024
- 2023: Eurocrypt 2023, Asiacrypt 2023, DCC, CT-RSA 2023, SAC 2023; organizer of Austrian Computer Science Day 2023
- 2022: Asiacrypt 2022, FSE 2022 / ToSC 21/22, DCC, SAC 2022, PQCifris 2022; co-organizer of Frisiacrypt 2022
- 2021: ToSC 20/21, SAC 2021, CFail 2021
- 2020: Eurocrypt 2020, FSE 2020 / ToSC 19/20, SAC 2020, Indocrypt 2020, IWSMR 2020
- 2019: FSE 2019 / ToSC 18/19, Latincrypt 2019
- 2018: FSE 2018 / ToSC 17/18, SAC 2018
LaTeX Templates
- TikZ: Cryptographic circuits (git)
- TU Graz Corporate Design (restricted access): Thesis titlepage and affidavit (TU4U, git) Presentations (TU4U, git) Documents and reports (TU4U, git)
- IAIK Templates: Master's theses (git) and projects (git) Bachelor's theses (git) and ISW reports (git) Student project topics (git - restricted) Crypto lecture slides (git - restricted)
Publications
AutoDiVer: Automatically Verifying Differential Characteristics and Learning Key Conditions
Nageler M., Ghosh S., Jüttler M., Eichlseder M.
IACR Transactions on Symmetric Cryptology, Vol. 2025(1), 471-514
Selected Areas in Cryptography - SAC 2024, Part II
Eichlseder M., Gambs S.
, Springer, (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; vol. 15517 LNCS)
Selected Areas in Cryptography - SAC 2024, Part I
Eichlseder M., Gambs S.
, Springer, (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; vol. 15516 LNCS)
Finding Complete Impossible Differential Attacks on AndRX Ciphers and Efficient Distinguishers for ARX Designs
Chakraborty D., Hadipour H., Nguyen P., Eichlseder M.
IACR Transactions on Symmetric Cryptology, Vol. 2024(3), 84-176
Revisiting Differential-Linear Attacks via a Boomerang Perspective with Application to AES, Ascon, CLEFIA, SKINNY, PRESENT, KNOT, TWINE, WARP, LBlock, Simeck, and SERPENT
Hadipour H., Derbez P., Eichlseder M.
Advances in Cryptology – CRYPTO 2024 - 44th Annual International Cryptology Conference, Proceedings, 44th Annual International Cryptology Conference, 38–72, (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); vol. 14923 LNCS)