Iftach Haitner

Iftach Haitner is a Professor at Tel Aviv University's School of Computer Science, currently on leave while serving as Principal Researcher at the Stellar Development Foundation. His primary academic affiliation remains with Tel Aviv University where he maintains an active research group and supervises multiple PhD students.

His educational background includes a PhD (2008) and Master's degree from the Weizmann Institute of Science under Omer Reingold and Oded Goldreich respectively, and undergraduate studies in Mathematics and Computer Science at Tel Aviv University. His research focuses on Cryptography and Computational Complexity, with significant contributions to coin-flipping protocols, one-way functions, differential privacy, and secure computation.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals consistent focus on foundational cryptographic problems. His work demonstrates strong emphasis on computational entropy concepts (inaccessible entropy, next-block pseudoentropy), protocol security against adaptive adversaries, and tight complexity bounds for cryptographic primitives. The publications span top venues including STOC, FOCS, Crypto, and Eurocrypt, showing sustained high-impact research output.

• The Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research (2018)
• Tel Aviv University Rector's Awards for Excellence in Teaching (2017, 2018)
• SIAM Outstanding Paper Prize (2011)
• Intel Israel award for outstanding PhD students (2008)
• Multiple best paper awards (CRYPTO 2006, ICALP 2006)

Haitner has advised numerous PhD students including Noam Mazor, Jad Silbak, and Eliad Tsfadia. His research has been supported by multiple Israel Science Foundation grants (2011-2023), an ERC Starting Grant (2015-2020), and Blavatnik ICRC grants. He also maintains industry connections through roles at Coinbase (2022-2024) and previous consulting positions at Unbound Security and Team8.

His professional service includes editorial work for SIAM Journal on Computing and program committee memberships for major cryptography conferences including Crypto, Eurocrypt, and TCC. He co-organizes the Greater Tel Aviv Area Cryptography Seminar and other specialized workshops.