Eli Biham

Eli Biham
Ira Abramov · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	Eli Biham
Nationality	Israeli
Fields	Cryptography, Information Security
Institutions	Technion, RSA Laboratory, Hebrew University, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Alma mater	Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Known for	Differential cryptanalysis, Differential-linear cryptanalysis, Fast correlation attacks

Eli Biham

Eli Biham is an Israeli cryptographer and computer scientist known for foundational work in cryptanalysis and information security research. He has held academic positions at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and collaborative roles with industrial laboratories such as the RSA Security research group and has influenced designs of block ciphers and hash functions. His work contributed to evaluation of algorithms used in protocols by organizations like the Internet Engineering Task Force, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and IEEE.

Early life and education

Biham studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he earned degrees under advisors connected to researchers at institutions such as the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. During his formative years he interacted with scholars from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of London. Early influences included works emerging from the Bell Labs community, the IBM Research cryptanalysis groups, and publications in venues like the Journal of Cryptology and Advances in Cryptology – CRYPTO.

Academic and research career

Biham served on faculty at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and collaborated with laboratories including RSA Laboratories and research centers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He participated in conferences such as CRYPTO, EUROCRYPT, ASIACRYPT, ACM CCS, and USENIX Security Symposium. He supervised graduate students who later joined organizations like Google, Microsoft Research, Intel, Cisco Systems, and Amazon Web Services. His research group maintained ties with projects funded by agencies including the European Research Council, the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology, and the US National Science Foundation.

Contributions to cryptography and information security

Biham co-developed and popularized techniques in cryptanalysis including differential cryptanalysis and the variant known as differential-linear cryptanalysis. He is credited with co-inventing the slide attack variations and advancing the impossible differential frameworks used against block cipher designs such as DES, IDEA, Serpent, Twofish, Rijndael, and Blowfish. Collaborations with figures from Philippe Rogaway, Adi Shamir, Ron Rivest, Shafi Goldwasser, and Silvio Micali influenced crossover work tying theoretical models from complexity theory and practical analysis from applied cryptography. His research addressed vulnerabilities in stream ciphers via methods such as fast correlation attacks impacting algorithms like A5/1, RC4, and candidates from eSTREAM.

Biham's efforts extended to analysis of hash function constructions and message authentication codes influencing standards from ISO and IETF bodies; his critiques informed revisions to procedures used by TLS and IPsec. He worked on side-channel analysis topics related to power analysis and timing attacks affecting implementations on hardware platforms from Intel Corporation, ARM Limited, and embedded systems used by vendors such as Broadcom and Qualcomm. His interdisciplinary collaborations connected to scholars at Cambridge University, Oxford University, ETH Zurich, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Notable publications and projects

Biham co-authored influential papers and books, including monographs and conference papers presented at CRYPTO, EUROCRYPT, and ASIACRYPT. He co-wrote works that appeared in collections associated with Springer-Verlag and edited volumes alongside researchers from Cambridge University Press and publications tied to IEEE Computer Society. Notable projects included empirical cryptanalysis campaigns evaluating candidate algorithms for the Advanced Encryption Standard selection process and collaborative audits of protocols used by companies like RSA Security, Netscape Communications Corporation, and standards bodies such as NIST. His joint research contributed to practical tools and open-source implementations adopted by communities around OpenSSL, LibreSSL, and protocol stacks used in Linux distributions.

Awards and recognitions

Biham's contributions have been recognized by peers through invitations to keynote at venues like Black Hat, RSA Conference, and academic symposia organized by ACM, IEEE, and the IACR. He received awards and distinctions from academic institutions including the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and honors connected to collaborative projects funded by agencies such as the European Union research programs. Colleagues have cited his work in surveys and retrospective volumes published by the Association for Computing Machinery and the International Association for Cryptologic Research.

Category:Israeli computer scientists Category:Cryptographers