Professional Experience
IT Security Analyst
Sep’23 – Present
cnlab security AG
- Design, planning, coordination, and documentation of security reviews
- Conceptual and practical aspects of security protocols and cryptographic primitives integrated in IT systems
- Analysis of cryptographic implementations in application code—correctness, misuse detection, and adherence to current standards
- Research on post-quantum cryptography, standardization, implementation efforts; authored a comprehensive guide (Link)
- Analysis of web applications—architectural soundness, data flow, authentication and authorization mechanisms
- In-depth source-code audits for smart contract vulnerabilities and logical flaws
- Configuration analysis of infrastructure components like web servers and reverse proxies
- Analysis of vulnerabilities in accordance with CVE’s, CVSS
- Application of standards and regulations: RFCs, NIST, BSI, PCI-DSS
- Development of an internal AI strategy concept; demo on basics of LLM prompting at the cnlab 2024 annual conference (Link)
PhD Student and Teaching Assistant
Sep’19 – Aug'23
University of Zürich
- Authored nine research papers, delivered five research talks, served as reviewer, participated in multiple research conferences.
- Collaborated with cryptography department of VBS and Cyber Defence Campus for research.
Coordinator, Cybersecurity Community
Jan’22 – Aug'23
Digital Society Initiative
- Organised and coordinated events and activities, managed member database and website.
Data Scientist
Aug’18 – Jun’19
Hashbrown Systems, India
- Developed a deep learning object detection and tracking model for counting vehicles in a live video feed (Link to White Paper)
- Developed a model for estimation of advertisement views based on demographic distribution, recalibratable with real data.
- Analyzed stock price trends and developed automated trading models.
Education
DAS in Cybersecurity
Jan’24 – Present
ETH Zürich
Two-year long continuing education degree, pursued with 20% load
Selected courses: Network Security, System Security, Formal Methods in Information Security
Selected projects: Programming the infrastructure (client, server) for automated certificate procurement with ACME (Let’s Encrypt); Formal security analysis and proofs of the OTR and PACE protocols using Tamarin Prover.
PhD in Mathematics
Sep’19 – Jun’23
University of Zürich
Thesis: A Study of Algebraic Methods in Asymmetric Cryptography (link). Successfully defended on 9 June 202.3
Advisor: Prof. Joachim Rosenthal
BS-MS Dual Degree in Mathematics
Aug’13 – May’18
IISER Mohali
Cumulative Index: 9.8/10 Summa Cum Laude. Master’s Thesis: A Study of Quadratic Number Fields (link)
Selected Academic Achievements
CYD Doctoral Fellowship Grant — Cyber Defense Campus
Sep’19
Funding for two years’ of PhD salary (∼ CHF 170,000)
Qualified CSIR-NET (Mathematics)
Jun’18
All-India Rank 83
Award of Excellence — IISER Mohali
May’18
Best Overall Academic Performance (Mathematics)
Six Certificates of Excellence — IISER Mohali
Aug’14 – May’18
Awards for Best Semester-Wise Academic Performance (Mathematics)
INSPIRE Scholarship — Dept. of Science & Tech, India
Aug’13 – May’18
Scholarship for higher studies in basic sciences
Programming and Tools
- Python: Several years of experience: machine learning, computer vision, cryptographic utilities, backend systems development, scripts to support internal workflows
- SageMath: Conducting experiments and verifying theoretical results in cryptography research
- BurpSuite: Basic proficiency
- nmap, sslyze: Basic proficiency
- Shell Scripting: Basic proficiency
- R: Intermediate proficiency. Data analysis, forecasting, machine learning algorithms
- LaTeX, Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint): Scientific documentation, writing papers, and preparing presentations
- Static website programming—Hugo, HTML, CSS: Working proficiency. Used for building personal website and resume.
Selected Publications (full list with links)
-
Cryptanalysis of a System Based on Twisted Dihedral Group Algebras
Simran Tinani — Transactions on Mathematical Cryptology (TMC) , 2022 -
A Deterministic Algorithm for the Discrete Logarithm Problem in a Semigroup
Simran Tinani, Joachim Rosenthal — Journal of Mathematical Cryptology, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 141–155 , 2022 -
Complexity of Conjugacy Search in Some Polycyclic and Matrix Groups
Simran Tinani, Carlo Matteotti, Joachim Rosenthal — arXiv preprint , 2022 -
A Number Theoretic Approach to Cycles in LDPC Codes
Julia Lieb, Simran Tinani — IFAC-PapersOnLine, Proceedings of 25th International Symposium on Mathematical Theory of Network Systems (MTNS) , 2022 -
Existence and Cardinality of k-Normal Elements in Finite Fields
Simran Tinani, Joachim Rosenthal — Theoretical Computer Science and General Issues, Springer International Publishing , 2021
Selected Talks
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A Number Theoretic Approach to Cycles in LDPC Codes
25th International Symposium on Mathematical Theory of Network Systems (MTNS) — Bayreuth, Germany (September 2022) -
Methods for Attacks in Non-Commutative Cryptography
Cyber Security Track, Cyber Alp Retreat — Cyber-Defence Campus, Switzerland (July 2022) -
Complexity of Conjugacy Search in some Platform Groups
International Workshop on Coding Theory and Cryptography, WCC — Rostock, Germany (March 2022)