I’m a last-year PhD student in Cryptography at CISPA – Helmholtz Center for Information Security, working in Antoine Joux’s research group.
My main focus is on Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), but my research frequently draws on techniques from Multi-Party Computation (MPC) and Zero-Knowledge proofs (ZK). I strongly believe that advancing FHE requires integrating techniques from MPC and ZK, making their combination essential to my research.
You can download my latest CV: HERE.
🧪 Current Research
At CISPA, I work on the security analysis of advanced cryptographic schemes. Within the FHE domain, I explore questions ranging from circuit privacy to verification oracles, and from approximated correctness to verifiable computation.
Recently, I’ve been working on a new approach to secure FHE evaluation against reaction-based attacks, while preserving circuit privacy. Our work, Fherret, introduces a novel proof system based on the MPC-in-the-Head (MPCitH) paradigm, allowing a client to be safe from correctness/verification/decryption oracle attacks without exposing the server’s computation.
More generally, I always enjoy a good cryptanalytic challenge and designing secure schemes.
🛠️ CTF & Practical Cryptanalysis
Since 2023, I’ve been an active member of the about:blankets Capture The Flag (CTF) team. Playing CTFs has exposed me to a broad range of cryptographic protocols and sharpened my ability to spot subtle flaws, design attacks, and analyze crypto primitives from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
CTFs give me the kind of real-world cryptanalysis intuition that often complements formal models and assumptions. I find it particularly interesting to spot the gap between a scheme’s security model and how it’s actually used in practice.
🎓 Background
Before my PhD, I completed a double master’s degree in Mathematics from Leiden University and Padova University, both obtained cum laude. I specialized in p-adic Number Theory, and I was part of the ALGANT (ALgebra, Geometry And Number Theory) Erasmus Mundus excellence program.
During my bachelor’s, I was awarded the INdAM scholarship for talented Italian mathematics students, as well as the “Mille e una Lode 2017” scholarship, awarded to the top 1% of students at Padova University.
My passion for mathematics and problem solving started in high school, when I qualified for the Italian Mathematical Olympiad 2016 national finals as the team leader for Rovigo — my hometown.
🌍 Looking Ahead
I’m currently open to internship opportunities and collaborations, especially those involving applied cryptographic research or secure development. I enjoy contributing to projects at the intersection of theory and implementation, and I’m always curious to explore new directions in cryptography.