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COSIC

@cosic.bsky.social
358 followers 45 following 1.2K posts

COSIC provides a broad expertise in digital security and strives for innovative security solutions. COSIC is headed by Bart Preneel. www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic

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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The day concluded with an insightful talk by Frank Morgner (BDR, Germany) on lessons learned from building a PQ-ready ID card. A great closing session for the #PQCSA Workshop on "Post-Quantum Cryptography: State of the Art" in Bonn. #PQC #postquantum #quantum www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/events...
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"I chose COSIC because it's one of the world's leading centres for privacy and cryptography research. The expertise and collaborative spirit here make it the perfect place to work on problems at the intersection of these two fields." #choosecosic
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Nicolas Constantinides is visiting COSIC and conducting research at the intersection of privacy, security, and applied cryptography, with a particular focus on anonymous communication networks such as Tor and mixnets. #choosecosic
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
How do performance trade-offs, side-channel attacks, and implementation pitfalls affect post-quantum cryptography in practice? Today in Bonn, Quinten Norga (COSIC) explores these challenges at the #PQCSA workshop on "Post-Quantum Cryptography: State of the Art". #PQC #quantum
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
📍Bonn today: Leonard Schild (COSIC) dives into the mathematical foundations of post-quantum cryptography, covering lattices, hash-based signatures, and Classic McEliece at the #PQCSA "Post-Quantum Cryptography: State of the Art" training workshop. 🔗 www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/events... #PQC
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Bart Preneel opens the #PQCSA one-day training on Post-Quantum Cryptography in Bonn with his talk: "The Quantum Threat: Why Act Now?". Topics of the workshop include NIST standards, cryptographic libraries, and migration strategies. 🔗 www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/events...
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"My passion for electronics grew during my engineering studies, inspiring me to pursue research. COSIC stood out as the ideal place to push the boundaries of flexible chip design alongside inspiring colleagues!" Welcome, Warre! #choosecosic
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Welcome to Warre Moons, our newest PhD student in Kris Myny's team! Warre's research focuses on the transition from static to dynamic, event-driven logic for digital signal processing on flexible chips, helping push the boundaries of next-generation flexible electronics.
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"I came to COSIC because of its international renown in cryptography and security, as well as its welcoming and supportive community!" Welcome, Philip! #choosecosic
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Welcome to Philip Scherer, one of our new PhD students at COSIC! Philip's research focuses on advancing the state of the art in Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), with a particular emphasis on its theoretical foundations. #choosecosic
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"I chose COSIC because I wanted to be in an environment where strong theoretical research meets practical applications. After completing my Master's thesis here, it felt like the natural place to continue deepening my expertise and exploring new ideas." #choosecosic
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Welcome to David Du Pont, our newest PhD student! He will be working on Fully Homomorphic Encryption (#FHE), designing, implementing, and optimizing efficient building blocks and protocols, with a particular focus on the FINAL scheme. #choosecosic
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Belgian banks are rolling out Click to Pay. According to Bart Preneel, tokenisation is an improvement over sharing card numbers and CVC codes, but the weakest link shifts to the device used to approve payments. Secure authentication remains key. 🔗 www.hln.be/binnenland/g... (paywall)
hln.be
Gedaan met kaartcijfers overtypen: grote Belgische banken rollen vanaf vandaag Click to Pay uit. “Veiliger, maar er schuilt ook gevaar in”
Mastercard en een aantal grote Belgische banken rollen vandaag ‘Click to Pay’ breed uit in ons land. Dat systeem maakt online afrekenen op webshops even simpel als contactloos betalen in de supermarkt...
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
📹The COSIC Seminar on "Towards Decentralized Searcher Competition in MEV Markets" by Roozbeh Sarenche (COSIC) is now live on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv5J...
youtube.com
COSIC Seminar "Towards Decentralized Searcher Competition in MEV Markets" (Roozbeh Sarenche, COSIC)
YouTube video by COSIC - Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
📢The COSIC newsletter for August and September is now online: www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/sites/...
esat.kuleuven.be
COSIC Newsletter August-September – COSIC News
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Tomorrow Roozbeh Sarenche (COSIC) will be giving a COSIC Seminar on "Towards Decentralized Searcher Competition in MEV Markets". Free to attend live! www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/?post_...
esat.kuleuven.be
Events Archive - COSIC
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Registration is still open: www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/events... #PQC #postquantum #quantum
esat.kuleuven.be
Post-Quantum Cryptography: State of the Art
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Curious about real-world post-quantum migration experiences? Frank Morgner (BDR) will share lessons learned from building a PQ-ready ID card, including roadmap considerations and crypto-agility aspects, at the #PQCSA Workshop "Post-Quantum Cryptography: State of the Art" in Bonn.
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The COSIC Seminar on "Provable Security and Privacy Analysis of WPA3’s SAE and SAE-PK Protocols" by Olga Sanina (TU Darmstadt) is now available on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6YT...
youtube.com
COSIC Seminar "Provable Security and Privacy Analysis of WPA3’s SAE..." (Olga Sanina, TU Darmstadt)
YouTube video by COSIC - Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Hundreds of Belgian military personnel can be identified via Strava activity at NATO and military sites, reports De Morgen. "This is simply not wise," says Bart Preneel. Shared location data can create real security risks. #CyberSecurity www.demorgen.be/nieuws/loopj... (paywall)
demorgen.be
Loopje rond de F-35’s? Onderzoek van De Morgen legt groot veiligheidslek bloot op gevoelige legerbasissen
Vriend of vijand: wie wil weten welke Belgische militairen op gevoelige locaties zoals het NAVO-hoofdkwartier in Brussel of de luchtmachtbasis van Kleine-Brogel werken, hoeft niet ver te zoeken. Op de...
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
"Algorithms for solving the isogeny problem with oriented elliptic curves" is accepted to IACR Communications in Cryptology. Paper: eprint.iacr.org/2026/1219
eprint.iacr.org
Algorithms for solving the isogeny problem with oriented elliptic curves
We introduce WayFinder, a framework for generalizing the Delfs-Galbraith and SuperSolver algorithms for the supersingular isogeny problem. Our framework extends the search for elliptic curves with an ...
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Paper "0-RTT Integrated in SPDM for Large-Scale AI Super-Clusters" presented at #ESORICS 2026 in Rome. sites.google.com/di.uniroma1....
sites.google.com
31st European Symposium on Research in Computer Security - Accepted Papers
Winter Cycle
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A few more pics of the KU Leuven Security & Privacy showcase at BE-CYBER 2026. Master of Cybersecurity: onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/opleidingen/... BE-CYBER event website: cybersecuritycoalition.be/becyber/ #becyber
onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be
Master of Cybersecurity (Leuven)
Discover the Master of Cybersecurity at KU Leuven in Belgium. Focus on cryptography, privacy, hardware security, secure software, and systems security.
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
[3/3] Researchers and staff from COSIC, DistriNet and CiTiP were also on hand to showcase KU Leuven's Security & Privacy Division and provide information on our Master of Cybersecurity programme. onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/opleidingen/... #BECYBER #CyberSecurity #KULeuven
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
[2/3] At this year's theme, Cyber Renaissance: Where Trusted Collaboration Becomes Capability, Prof. Bart Preneel spoke on "Sovereignty by Design: How Architectural Choices Determine Who Is In Control." #BECYBER #CyberSecurity #KULeuven
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
[1/3] BE-CYBER has become the annual gathering point for Belgium's cybersecurity community, bringing together policymakers, industry, technology experts and researchers. cybersecuritycoalition.be/becyber/ #BECYBER #CyberSecurity #KULeuven
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“I chose COSIC because it offers me the chance to grow as a researcher in a welcoming and inspiring community, alongside people who share my passion for mathematics and cryptography.” #choosecosic
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
We have a new PhD student: Milan Boutros! Milan will be working on post-quantum cryptography, focusing on isogeny-based, code-based and multivariate cryptography.
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🔐 Interested in Post-Quantum Cryptography? You can still register until 27 September for our one-day training on NIST standards, cryptographic libraries and migration strategies in Bonn. 📅 Register now: www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/events... #PQC #PostQuantumCryptography #PostQuantum #PQCSA
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Join us this week at COSIC for two seminars at the forefront of cybersecurity and cryptography: 🔐 Wi-Fi security in WPA3 with Olga Sanina (TU Darmstadt) and FlipFields and the future of finite fields & rings with Christopher Wolf. Don't miss out! 👇 www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/?post_...
esat.kuleuven.be
Events Archive - COSIC
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A fitting tribute to his impact on research, teaching, mentorship, and collaboration. 🌺👕 www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/events...
esat.kuleuven.be
Secrets Shared, Privacy Preserved – A Celebration of the Work of Nigel Smart
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
We were delighted to celebrate the remarkable contributions of Nigel Smart with "Secrets Shared, Privacy Preserved", bringing together colleagues, collaborators, students, and friends from across the cryptography community.
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
📢 Join Leonard Schild (COSIC, KU Leuven) at the #PQCSA Workshop in Bonn on 6 October 2026, where he will introduce the mathematical foundations of post-quantum cryptography, covering lattices, hash-based signatures, and Classic McEliece. Register now: www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/events...
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Interested in post-quantum cryptography implementations? Quinten Norga (COSIC, KU Leuven) will speak on "Performance, Side Channels & Implementation Pitfalls" at the #PQCSA Workshop in Bonn on 6 October 2026. Register now: www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/events... #PostQuantum #PQC #Quantum
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
📹The COSIC Seminar on "Crypto-Agility in Hardware Security: Building Systems That Can Evolve" by Michael Hutter (Universität der Bundeswehr München) is now available on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiOh...
youtube.com
COSIC Seminar "Crypto-Agility in Hardware Security: Building Systems That Can..." (Michael Hutter)
YouTube video by COSIC - Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
📹The COSIC Seminar on "LeOPaRd: Towards Practical Post-Quantum Oblivious PRFs via 2HashDH Paradigm" by Muhammed Esgin (Monash University) is now available on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgP...
youtube.com
COSIC Seminar "LeOPaRd: Towards Practical Post-Quantum..." (Muhammed Esgin, Monash University)
YouTube video by COSIC - Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
👏"Multi-Verifier Keyed-Verification Anonymous Credentials" accepted at #asiacrypt 2026. Preprint: eprint.iacr.org/2025/2156
eprint.iacr.org
Multi-Verifier Keyed-Verification Anonymous Credentials
Keyed-Verification anonymous credentials (KVAC) enable privacy-preserving authentication and can be seen as the symmetric primitive of conventional anonymous credentials: issuance and verification of ...
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"I chose COSIC for its combination of strong technical research in cryptography and its focus on the practical and societal implications of secure systems. This fits well with my interest in privacy, security, and trustworthy digital infrastructure." #choosecosic
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Welcome to new PhD student Ema Šujster, who will work on the intersection of cryptography, privacy, cybersecurity, and law enforcement, focusing on how law enforcement can lawfully access digital evidence without undermining the security and privacy provided by modern encryption.
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
👏"A Simple and Unified Approach for Proving Knowledge of Isogenies between Abelian Varieties" is accepted at #asiacrypt 2026. Preprint: eprint.iacr.org/2026/1157
eprint.iacr.org
A Simple and Unified Approach for Proving Knowledge of Isogenies between Abelian Varieties
In this paper we introduce a simple and unified approach, based on generic proof systems, to prove knowledge of any isogeny between two principally polarized abelian varieties in any dimension, assum...
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Opening Pandora's Box: White-Box Attacks on Microsoft's PhotoDNA Perceptual Hash Function" preprint available at eprint.iacr.org/2026/486
eprint.iacr.org
White-Box Attacks on PhotoDNA Perceptual Hash Function
𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝐷𝑁𝐴 is a widely deployed perceptual hash function used for the detection of illicit content such as Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). This paper presents the first mathematical description of 𝐴...
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"What’s the Matter? An In-Depth Security Analysis of the Matter Protocol" preprint available at eprint.iacr.org/2025/1268
eprint.iacr.org
What’s the Matter? An In-Depth Security Analysis of the Matter Protocol
The Matter protocol has emerged as the leading standard for secure IoT interoperability, backed by major vendors such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, and others. With millions of Matter devices alr...
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
👏We are proud to announce that two COSIC papers have been accepted at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P 2027)! Congratulations to all authors on this outstanding achievement. We are very proud of this success! #sp2027 #IEEE
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Coverage by The Hackers News: thehackernews.com/2026/09/new-...
thehackernews.com
New DDRop Attack Breaks Intel TDX and AMD SEV-SNP Confidential Computing
DDRop uses server control and a DDR5 interposer to replay stale encrypted data in Intel TDX, Scalable SGX, and AMD SEV-SNP.
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The paper #DDRop is accepted at #ACMCCS 2026. We show how silently dropping DDR5 writes can undermine modern confidential computing protections, enabling attacks against Intel TDX, Intel Scalable SGX, and AMD SEV-SNP. Website & paper: ddropattack.eu
ddropattack.eu
DDRop
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The quantum threat is approaching. How should we prepare? Join Bart Preneel at the #PQCSA Workshop in Bonn on 6 Oct 2026 for his talk: "The Quantum Threat: Why Act Now?" Registration is open: www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/events... #PostQuantum #PQC #Quantum
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COSIC @cosic.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This week at COSIC: we're hosting the 7th Leuven Isogeny Days and look forward to welcoming everyone back! Also on Wednesday, Leila Taghizadeh will give a COSIC seminar. Check out the full calendar: www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/?post_...
esat.kuleuven.be
Events Archive - COSIC
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Reposted by COSIC
ePrint Updates @eprint.ing.bot · 03/09/2026
A Quasidifferential Analysis of the Wrong-Key Randomization Hypothesis (Tim Beyne, Gregor Leander, Mariia Mutkovina, Ricardo Rodriguez Reveco) ia.cr/2026/1848
Abstract. The Wrong-Key Randomization (WKR) hypothesis governs data-complexity estimates in differential cryptanalysis: wrong-key guesses are assumed to behave as a random permutation would. Exact computation of fixed-key differential probabilities was, until recently, infeasible.

We use quasidifferential trails to compute the exact wrong-key distribution for the key-recovery map G_(k, k′) = F_(k′)⁻¹  ∘ F_(k) in PRESENT-like SPNs. A mask-first reformulation exposes a Walsh–Hadamard structure; restricting the transform to the low-dimensional support, together with SMT-guided trail enumeration, reduces the cost: for a 16-bit toy cipher, from~2⁸⁰ to~2¹³; for , from~2¹⁹² to~2³⁰; and for GIFT, from~2¹⁹² to~2³².

For the toy cipher, PRESENT and GIFT, the computed distribution is a structured mixture: a large zero-probability class coexists with bottleneck classes orders of magnitude above the random-permutation mean, and nothing lies between them. Such a distribution is not unimodal, so no Poisson or binomial law fits it for any parameter and the hypothesis is formally false for all three targets. For PRESENT, however, we show that this deviation does not affect the security of Wang’s 14-round differential attack. We cast the computed distribution as a structured composite hypothesis—the differential counterpart of the random-permutation/composite-hypothesis model used for wrong keys in linear cryptanalysis–and show that the shape of the wrong-key distribution, not merely its mean, governs how many wrong keys survive the key-recovery filter. For PRESENT with Wang’s distinguisher, the structural signal is carried only by the right pairs, whose weight is too small for the deviation to surface; the hypothesis remains a safe heuristic in this case despite being formally false. Our SMT-based enumeration tool is publicly available.
Image showing part 2 of abstract.
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Reposted by COSIC
ePrint Updates @eprint.ing.bot · 10/09/2026
What to Guess in Key-Recovery Attacks? (Tim Beyne, Gregor Leander, Patrick Neumann, Yevhen Perehuda, Michiel Verbauwhede) ia.cr/2026/1897
Abstract. Determining the precise parts of the key that need to be guessed in a key-recovery attack is fundamental for judging its cost: if the same attack can be executed by guessing less key material, then the cipher’s resistance against this attack is overestimated. Although a multitude of prior works provide upper bounds on the key material required, and although these bounds might be tight in some special cases, a precise evaluation of the required key material and the tightness of these bounds is still missing. We remedy this by enumerating linear trails to iteratively compute the affine hull of the support of the Fourier transform of the key-recovery map. This leads to a generic and practical algorithm that identifies the smallest subspace of key material to be guessed. This algorithm is ready to be used in many different attacks and for a large variety of cipher structures. We demonstrate its impact by showcasing improvements on several published integral, linear, differential-linear, and zero-correlation attacks on the block ciphers PRESENT, SIMON, SKINNY, and GIFT.
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Reposted by COSIC
ePrint Updates @eprint.ing.bot · 06/09/2026
OptiMix: Scalable and Distributed Approaches for Latency Optimization in Modern Mixnets (Mahdi Rahimi) ia.cr/2026/1863
Abstract. Mixnets provide network-level anonymity, traded off with increased communication latency, which consequently limits their applicability to only latency-tolerant applications, shrinking the anonymity set to clients engaged in such use cases. Addressing this issue requires optimizing latency, as recently explored in (NDSS’24) and (NDSS’25) through node arrangement and strategic routing. However, these approaches are tailored to specific mixnet designs, rely on simplified models and trust assumptions, or suffer from limited practical efficiency.

In contrast, bridges these gaps by introducing a general low-latency mixnet model adaptable to all well-established designs. To this end, %we first propose an efficient distributed protocol for arranging nodes in mixnets that achieves low-latency properties while maintaining unpredictability against adversaries. we first propose an efficient distributed protocol for arranging nodes in mixnets that achieves low-latency properties while maintaining unbiasability against adversaries. Second, we introduce novel strategic routing schemes that optimize communication latency. Third, we design a load-balancing algorithm that evenly distributes traffic without undermining the latency-optimized characteristics of the routing strategies. Fourth, we conduct extensive evaluations using data from the deployed Nym mixnet, demonstrating substantial latency reductions with minimal anonymity loss across various mixnet designs—achieving up to 4× performance gains over state-of-the-art solutions. %Finally, we propose a cover-routing mechanism that enables clients to benefit from low-latency mixnets without sacrificing anonymity, at the modest cost of generating additional traffic. Finally, considering that latency reduction incurs either anonymity degradation or increased bandwidth overhead—as stated by the anonymity trilemma—we propose a cover-routing mechanism that enables clients to benefit from low-latency mixnets without compromising anonymity, at the modest cost of generating additional cover traffic.
Image showing part 2 of abstract.
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