Varun Maram

Point Reyes, California — summer of '22 (ft. Applied Crypto. Group's logo).

I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Cybersecurity Group at SandboxAQ. My current research interests lie in quantum-resistant cryptography, with an emphasis on provable post-quantum security of real-world cryptographic systems. I also have a broader interest in multi-party computation and distributed systems.

Before joining SandboxAQ, I obtained my doctoral degree at ETH Zürich in 2023 where I was part of the Applied Cryptography Group and supervised by Prof. Kenny Paterson. I also obtained a Master’s degree in computer science (with distinction) at ETH Zürich in 2019, and a Bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering (with a minor in mathematics) at IIT Roorkee in 2017.

I’m a member of the team behind Classic McEliece, a key-encapsulation mechanism which is in the fourth round of NIST’s post-quantum cryptography standardization project; the scheme is being considered for ISO standardization as well.

I also interned in the Advanced Cryptography team at Visa Research during the summers of 2021 (remotely from Zürich) and 2022 (in Palo Alto) where I worked on quantum cryptanalysis of symmetric-key primitives and quantum security of standard model public-key encryption schemes respectively.

Outside work, I love (pub) quizzing.

news

Sep 06, 2024	I’m serving on the program committee of next year’s PKC conference in Røros, Norway! Do submit your best works on public-key cryptography and related topics. Not convinced by my pitch? Well here’s a picture of a fjord in Norway to change your mind :)
Apr 16, 2024	Happy to share that our paper “Quantum CCA-Secure PKE, Revisited” received a best paper award at PKC 2024 (also my second PKC best paper award in a row!), and is invited to the Journal of Cryptology!! Many thanks to my co-author Navid Alamati for his excellent mentorship during my internship at Visa Research, and also for his skills at the pool and ping-pong tables during our breaks.
Mar 25, 2024	Started my postdoc at SandboxAQ in London after spending a memorable 6+ years at ETH Zürich! (The flag is still a big plus, kinda.)
Dec 11, 2023	Successfully defended my doctoral thesis “Generic Enhancements of Post-Quantum Public-Key Encryption”. Many thanks to my advisor, Kenny, co-examiners Dennis and Andreas, the Applied Cryptography Group, my friends (not mutually exclusive with the aforementioned folks), and family for being an essential part of my doctoral journey!