Nadia Heninger

Nadia Heninger is a Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering department at the University of California, San Diego. Previously, she was an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania from 2013 to 2018. Her research focuses on mathematical and empirical cryptanalysis of public-key cryptographic systems, with significant contributions to identifying vulnerabilities in widely deployed cryptographic implementations.

Her primary research interests include cryptography, cryptanalysis, and security, with particular emphasis on mathematical cryptanalysis aimed at real-world applications. Her work frequently employs lattice techniques, computational number theory, coding theory, and network measurement to uncover weaknesses in cryptographic systems. She has made notable contributions to understanding the security of RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and ECDSA implementations in practice.

Heninger's research output shows a consistent focus on practical cryptanalysis, with recent work including the Blast-RADIUS vulnerability discovery, SSH key compromise via lattice techniques, and analyses of cryptographic implementations in blockchain systems like Bitcoin. Her publications span top security and cryptography venues including Crypto, Eurocrypt, Usenix Security, and CCS, often receiving best paper awards.

Among her scientific achievements are an NSF CAREER award and multiple best paper awards from premier conferences including Crypto, PKC, CCS, and Usenix Security, as well as test of time awards from Crypto and Usenix Security. These accolades reflect the significant impact of her work on the field of cryptography and security.

She advises several PhD students including Miro Haller, Laura Shea, Adam Suhl, and George Sullivan, and has a substantial list of notable alumni who have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry. Her research has been supported by various grants, including an Amazon Research Award for work on 'Bringing Modern Security Guarantees to End-to-End Encrypted Cloud Storage.'