Atul Luykx is a Tech Lead at Google, focusing on how to securely implement and deploy new AI features on the Pixel phone.
As a cryptographer, he has broad experience in the development and application of cryptographic algorithms, from academic research to product integration:
- Product: He has worked on cryptographic implementation for generic cloud use, as a contributor to the Tink cryptographic library, and also targeted to hardware, when developing ROM and firmware code for the Pixel phones.
- Academic research: He designed multiple cryptographic algorithms and contributed to the theoretical analysis thereof, resulting in publications at top-tier cryptography venues; see google scholar, dblp.
His research was conducted during his PhD and postdoc at COSIC under Bart Preneel, and as an intern at NTT Secure Platform Laboratories, a visiting scholar under Orr Dunkelman at the University of Haifa, and a postdoc at the UC Davis computer science department with Phil Rogaway.
- Applied research: As a research scientist at Visa Research and Swirlds, he focused on the application of cryptography to payments and blockchain, resulting in multiple patents.
- Standardization: His block cipher mode of operation LightMAC was standardized in ISO/IEC 29192-6. From 2015 to 2017 he was a Belgian delegate to the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC27 group, where he was the primary editor of ISO/IEC 29192-7. He contributed to TLS1.3. He was a co-designer of the algorithm Colm, which was selected as a candidate for the final portfolior of the CAESAR competition, and designer of the SUNDAE mode of operation, which was a second round candidate for the NIST Lightweight cryptography process.
- Consulting and advising: He has conducted in-depth security reviews and consultations across Alphabet and advised VC firms and startups on matters related to cryptography and blockchain.