Christoph Striecks

I am a senior scientist specializing in the design and analysis of secure communication systems, with a focus on cryptographic protocols – particularly key exchange, encryption, data access control, and authentication. My work centers on advancing quantum-safe hybrid cryptography, ensuring long-term security for next-generation communication infrastructures.

I actively contribute to standardization efforts, including my past role in ETSI STF 529 (standardizing Attribute-Based Encryption) and my current involvement in ETSI STF 684 (standardizing Quantum-Safe Hybrid Authenticated Key Exchange). My research and collaborations are detailed in my publications, talks, and ongoing projects below.

Academic & professional background

Since 2016, I have been a (senior) scientist at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria’s largest research and technology organization. Prior to this, I held a postdoctoral position at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany.

I earned my PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Cryptography from KIT in 2015, under the supervision of Prof. Dennis Hofheinz (now at ETH Zurich). My doctoral research focused on advanced cryptographic building blocks with an emphasis on security proofs. During my time at KIT, I also contributed to teaching, including Algorithms I (lab, 2015) and IT Security (lab, 2013), alongside organizing seminars and additional lab sessions.

In 2010, I completed my Diploma in Computer Science at the Technical University of Braunschweig, specializing in cryptography and software engineering. Earlier in my career, I gained practical experience as a software development intern at Siemens USA in Princeton, New Jersey (2008).

News & activities

Selected publications (alphabetical ordering of authors if not stated differently by asterisk):
      1. Versatile Quantum-Safe Hybrid Key Exchange and Its Application to MACsec
        *Jaime S. Buruaga, Augustine Bugler, Juan P. Brito, Vicente Martin, and Christoph Striecks.
        EPJ Quantum Technologies 12, Article number: 84 (2025)
      2. Muckle+: End-to-End Hybrid Authenticated Key Exchanges
        Sonja Bruckner, Sebastian Ramacher, and Christoph Striecks.
        Post-Quantum Cryptography - 14th International Workshop, PQCrypto 2023, College Park, MD, USA, August 16-18, 2023, Proceedings
      3. Bloom Filter Encryption and Applications to Efficient Forward-Secret 0-RTT Key Exchange
        David Derler, Tibor Jager, Daniel Slamanig, and Christoph Striecks.
        Advances in Cryptology - EUROCRYPT 2018 - 37th Annual International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Cryptographic Techniques, Tel Aviv, Israel, April 29 - May 3, 2018 Proceedings, Part III

    Organizing activities:

    Current projects:

    • QSCS (ETSI 2025-2027)
    • QSNP (HORIZON-RIA 2023-2026)
    • QCI-CAT (Digital European Program, 2022-2025)
    • PETRUS (Digital European Program, 2022-2025)
    • EDOCC (European Defence Fund, 2022-2025)

    Completed projects:

    Research visits:

    Teaching & supervision:

    • Teaching: Advanced Public-Key Encryption (invited lecture, WT 2020, TU Vienna), Advanced Public-Key Encryption (invited lecture, WT 2019, TU Vienna), Algorithms I (TA, ST 2015, KIT), Gems of Theoretical Computer Science (ST 2014, KIT), IT security (TA, ST 2013, KIT), Software Development (WTs 2010-2012, KIT), Traitor Tracing (WT 2011, KIT), Identity-Based Encryption (ST 2011, KIT), Practical Cryptography (ST 2011, KIT), Lattice-Based Cryptography (WT 2010, KIT), TA programming and cryptography/IT security (until WT 09, Braunschweig University of Technology)
    • PhD visitor: Jaime S. Buruaga (Technical University of Madrid, Jul.-Oct. 2024)
    • Students & interns: Augustine Bugler (University of Vienna, Mar. 2025-), Augustine Bugler (University of Vienna, Jul.-Sep. 2024), Kevin Verhaeghe (ETH Zurich, Jul.-Sep. 2024), Alexander Zikulnig (TU Vienna, Aug.-Sep. 2022), Denis Jahic (TU Vienna, Jul.-Sep. 2021), Christian Matt (KIT, 2011), Alexander Mai (KIT, 2014)

    Program committees:

    Selected external reviewing activities: