I am a researcher (研究员) at the School of Cyber Science and Technology, Shandong University, based in Qingdao, China. I joined Shandong University in November 2023.

Before that, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2021–2023), working with Prof. Thomas Peyrin. I received my Ph.D. (2021) from Shandong University, under the supervision of Prof. Meiqin Wang.

Contact

• Email: kai.hu@sdu.edu.cn
• Address: School of Cyber Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao Campus, China.

Research Interests

My research focuses on symmetric-key cryptography, in particular:

• Cryptanalysis of symmetric-key primitives (block ciphers, stream ciphers, AEAD, hash functions).
• Mathematical foundations and automated tools for cipher design and cryptanalysis (division property, cube attacks, differential/linear/integral cryptanalysis, MILP/SAT/SMT-based search).
• Connections between cryptanalysis and machine learning security.

News

• 🎉 [2026.05] Two papers accepted to CRYPTO 2026: Cryptanalytic Properties of Mealy Machines and Permutation-Based Hash from Non-Idealized Assumptions: Adding Feed-Forward to Sponge.
• 🎉 [2026.03] Four papers accepted to FSE 2026.
• 🎉 [2026.01] Paper accepted to EUROCRYPT 2026: Round-Based Approximation of (Higher-Order) Differential-Linear Correlation.
• 🏆 [2025.11] Received the CACR Outstanding Youth Award (Chinese Association for Cryptologic Research) — biennial, up to 4 recipients per cycle. [news]
• 🎉 [2025.05] Paper accepted to CRYPTO 2025: Unlocking Mix-Basis Potential: Geometric Approach for Combined Attacks.
• 🎉 [2025.03] Five papers accepted to FSE 2025.
• 🏆 [2025.01] Awarded the First Prize of Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Invention Award (ranked 2nd).
• 🎉 [2024] Paper accepted to CRYPTO 2024: Speeding Up Preimage and Key-Recovery Attacks with Highly Biased Differential-Linear Approximations.
• 🎉 [2024] Paper accepted to EUROCRYPT 2024: Massive Superpoly Recovery with a Meet-in-the-Middle Framework — Improved Cube Attacks on Trivium and Kreyvium.
• 🎉 [2023] Paper accepted to ASIACRYPT 2023: Revisiting Higher-Order Differential-Linear Attacks from an Algebraic Perspective.
• 🎓 [2023.11] Joined Shandong University as a researcher.
• 🏆 [2022] Received the Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award of CACR (Chinese Association for Cryptologic Research).
• 🏆 [2021] First Prize, Block Cipher Design Competition of the Chinese Association for Cryptologic Research.

Prospective Students

I have 4 master’s positions available each year. I am also happy to host motivated undergraduates (本科生) interested in research projects, as well as visiting students.

If you are interested in symmetric-key cryptography and would like to work with me, please send me an email (kai.hu@sdu.edu.cn) with your CV and a short note about your background and interests.