Talk at ACM ASIACCS 2025

1 September 2025

Prof. Mark Manulis recently attended the 20th ACM ASIACCS 2025 conference, held from 25 to 29 August 2025 in Hanoi, Vietnam. At this premier security event, he presented a research paper entitled “Fast SNARK‑based Non‑Interactive Distributed Verifiable Random Function with Ethereum Compatibility”, co‑authored with Jia Liu—then at Enya Labs, now with Input Output (IOHK). ACM ASIACCS, organized by ACM SIGSAC, is a leading forum for cutting-edge breakthroughs in computer and communications security.

Their paper tackles a fundamental challenge in decentralized systems—secure, efficient randomness generation—by introducing the most efficient direct construction of a non‑interactive distributed verifiable random function (NI‑DVRF) that integrates seamlessly with Ethereum. This scheme innovatively combines pairing‑based cryptography, secret sharing, SNARKs, and BLS signatures, and is anchored in formal security proofs under standard assumptions in the random oracle model. Demonstrating both theoretical depth and practical viability, the team implemented highly optimized versions in Rust and Solidity, with deployment under consideration on Boba Network’s layer‑2 DRB service. Their experimental evaluation underscores strong performance and scalability, reinforcing the solution’s potential for real‑world blockchain adoption.

Cooperation with ZITiS on the new project SCANDIUM

A new 3-year R&D project SCANDIUM, which runs at PACY Lab and is funded by ZITiS (Central Office for Information Technology in the Security Sector) kicked-off last month. The project explores methods to improve cooperation between German law-enforcement agencies that face complex and resource-intensive investigative tasks. Although these agencies are willing to collaborate, strict regulations prevent them from sharing sensitive information directly. As a result, coordination must be achieved in a way that respects confidentiality while still enabling efficient use of limited resources. In this project PACY Lab works with ZITiS on the design of secure multi-party computation protocols aiming to reduce redundant work across the agencies by detecting overlaps in large confidential datasets without revealing their contents. By ensuring that efforts are not duplicated, the approach aims to optimize the allocation of resources and shorten the overall time required to complete such investigative processes.

Prof. Manulis at RI CODE Annual Conference 2025

As part of the FI CODE Annual Conference 2025, Prof. Mark Manulis gave a presentation on “Secure Cloud through Cryptography: Research Approaches to Encryption and Authentication” to an audience of experts from the German Armed Forces, academia, politics and industry. He emphasized that the increasing relocation of sensitive data to cloud environments places new demands on security and user-friendliness. Cryptographic processes are essential for protecting this data. Prof. Manulis presented current research results in the field of asymmetric encryption with a focus on long-term security, in particular key rotation and updateable encryption to ensure forward security. In addition, advanced concepts such as attribute-based encryption and techniques for searching and processing data in an encrypted state were explained. In the second part of his presentation, Prof. Manulis addressed the topic of authentication and presented approaches based on the decentralized WebAuthn standard. These methods not only enable secure and password-free authentication, but also strengthen user privacy. The concepts presented are based on current work by the “Privacy and Applied Cryptography (PACY)” research group and demonstrate practical solutions for how cryptographic innovations can sustainably improve security in cloud infrastructures. Prof. Manulis was also involved as a jury member in the “Cyber/IT 2025 Innovation Conference”, where IT innovations relevant to the Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg) were identified and evaluated. With his technical expertise, he contributed to the selection of forward-looking technologies that could be used in security-critical areas.

ACNS 2025 in Munich

The final day of the 23rd International Conference on Applied Cryptography and Network Security (ACNS 2025) in Munich marked the conclusion of an engaging and dynamic event that brought together around 230 participants from across the globe. The conference featured a diverse range of presentations and workshops, reflecting the latest advancements and research from various research areas. PACY Lab was proud to contribute to the scientific program with the presentation of the paper "Distributed Asynchronous Remote Key Generation" authored by Mark Manulis and Hugo Nartz, who gave the talk. In addition to our scientific contribution, PACY Lab had a notable organizational role in the success of the event. Prof. Manulis served as a Workshop Chair and played a key role in attracting and coordinating nine workshops held alongside the main conference program — the highest number of workshops ever organized in the history of ACNS. Scientific proceedings with papers from all ACNS 2025 workshops will be published later this year by Springer.

New EU project PiQASO

A new R&D project named PiQASO (Post-Quantum Cryptography As-a-Service for Common Transmission Systems and Infrastructures) has been launched under the EU’s Digital Europe Action programme. Operating on a 3-year timeline from January 2025 through December 2027, PiQASO aims to design, optimize, and deploy a robust suite of quantum-resistant cryptographic services. Its objective is to develop an as-a-service solution that includes key encapsulation mechanisms, digital signatures, secure key exchange, identity management, and more. The project brings together two academic institutions and 23 industrial partners from 12 EU countries, marking a significant collaborative effort across the continent. PACY lab is leading UniBw M activities in the project and contributing to the specification of PQC services and abstractions enabling quantum-safe encryption, signing, authentication, authorization for PiQASO's PQC-as-a-Service architecture. Specifically, we are working on the design of post-quantum secure public key encryption and associated key management approaches, leveraging NIST standards, to support longterm data encryption-at-rest operations.

PACY at FHE / RWC 2025 in Sofia

A series of high-profile scientific events in the field of cryptography took place last week in Sofia, drawing experts, researchers, and industry leaders from around the globe. Among the attendees were Prof. Mark Manulis and Jerome Nguyen from PACY Lab, who participated in two major gatherings: the annual conference on Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE 2025) and the Real World Cryptography Symposium (RWC 2025). FHE 2025 brought together leading academics and practitioners to discuss the latest advances in fully homomorphic encryption—a breakthrough technology that allows computation on encrypted data without needing to decrypt it first. The conference featured sessions on practical implementations, performance improvements, and real-world use cases of FHE in cloud computing, finance, and healthcare. Meanwhile, RWC 2025 focused on bridging the gap between academic cryptography and its practical applications. Key topics included secure messaging, post-quantum cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs, and cryptographic protocols used in industry-scale systems. The presence of PACY Lab representatives highlighted their continued contribution to cutting-edge research and their engagement with the broader cryptographic community. Both events offered invaluable opportunities for knowledge exchange, networking, and collaborative exploration of the challenges and possibilities at the forefront of secure digital communication.

Dagstuhl-Seminar "Guardians of the Galaxy"

Prof. Manulis recently participated in the prestigious Dagstuhl Seminar titled "Guardians of the Galaxy: Protecting Space Systems from Cyber Threats," held from March 2 to March 7, 2025. Attendance at Dagstuhl Seminars is by invitation only, bringing together leading experts from academia and industry to address critical challenges. The seminar focused on pressing cybersecurity issues within the space sector, aiming to discuss current R&D challenges in the protection of space infrastructure and satellite communications against a growing number of cyber-attacks. Key topics included enhancing the resilience of space vehicles, securing ground segment operations critical for mission control, safeguarding communication links against eavesdropping and interference, and transitioning to post-quantum cryptography.