Akin Ünal

Akin Ünal is a postdoctoral researcher at ISTA in Austria. He completed his PhD 2024 at ETH Zurich in the group of Prof. Dennis Hofheinz. His research focuses mainly on the interplay of algebra and cryptography. His current main interest is provable algebraic cryptanalysis, but he is also interested in proving the security of cryptographic primitives by using algebraic techniques.

On the cryptanalytic side, he studies attacks on new and experimental assumptions
arising from random linear codes, lattices and multivariate polynomials.
His work on lightweight pseudorandom generators was recognized with an Early Career Best Paper award by the cryptographic community.

Non-cryptographic interests include algebraic geometry and algebraic automata theory.