Paul Gerhart
Paul Gerhart +49 151 7063 3852 mail [at] paul-gerhart.de Google Scholar
About Me
I am Paul Gerhart, a dedicated researcher, specializing in the field of cryptography. My primary areas of focus encompass the study of fair protocols, password-hardening, and privacy.
Cryptography
Cryptography is my passion because it seamlessly bridges two of my favorite domains: mathematics and computer science. Marrying mathematical theory’s elegance with real-world practicality makes it a fascinating realm where abstract concepts become powerful tools. While modern cryptographic tools’ power and almost enchanting abilities seem like magic because they are too strong to be possibly true, it is fascinating how we can leverage them just through the beauty of assumptions and logical conclusions. It is even more fascinating when your childhood dream career was to be a magician, as it was for me.
Cryptography is my passion because it bridges two of my two favorite domains: mathematics and computer science. While the power and elegance of modern cryptographic tools seem like magic because they are too strong to be possibly true, for me, it is fascinating how we can leverage them using just the beauty of assumptions and logical conclusions.
Privacy Modern applications, with their increasing complexity, frequently overlook the importance of user privacy. My aim is to facilitate research on sensitive data through the use of cryptographic methods, ensuring that applications can operate fully without compromising the privacy of any user.
Education
Doctoral Student in Cryptography under Dominique Schröder Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg Fair protocols, Password-hardening, Privacy 08/2022 - present
Master of Science in Computer Science Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg Cryptography, Privacy, Cyber Security and IT-Forensics 10/2020 - 07/2022
Bachelor of Science in Mathematics University of Bonn Algebraic Topology 10/2017 - 09/2020
Work
Assessor Cryptography, Privacy, IT-Forensics 12/2022 - present
University Research Assistant Applied Cryptography Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg
08/2022 - present
Student Employee Software Development Richard Wenzel GmbH & Co.KG
10/2017 - 07/2022
Recent Publications
Foundations of Adaptor Signatures Paul Gerhart, Dominique Schröder, Pratik Soni, Sri A.K. Thyagarajan EUROCRYPT 2024
Practical Schnorr Threshold Signatures without the Algebraic Group Model Hien Chu, Paul Gerhart, Tim Ruffing, Dominique Schröder CRYPTO 2023
A General Approach to Adaptor Signatures supervised by Dominique Schröder, Sri A.K. Thyagarajan, and Pratik Soni Master Thesis 2022

Complete List
Recent Talks
How to Avoid Unfair Exchange: Adaptor Security Revisited IEEE S&P 2023, San Francisco, CA

Complete List
Research Visits
Research Internship Prof. Jonathan Katz University of Maryland, College Park, MD 08/2023 - 11/2023

Community Service
External Reviews (Selected)
Advances in Cryptology (CRYPTO) 2023, 2024
Advances in Cryptology (EUROCRYPT) 2023, 2024
Advances in Cryptology (ASIACRYPT) 2022
ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS) 2024
Public Key Cryptography (PKC) 2023, 2024
European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (ESORICS) 2022, 2023, 2024
IEEE Computer Security Foundations Symposium (CSF) 2023
Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2023 (FC) 2024
Teaching
Lecture: Introduction to Modern Cryptography Winter term 23/24 Teaching assistant
Lecture: Introduction to Modern Cryptography Winter term 22/23 Teaching assistant
Supervised Students
Katharina Schambach, Bachelor Thesis, 2024 Atomic Swaps from Minimal Assumptions
Fabian Jost, Master Thesis, 2024 Foundations of Blind Conditional Signatures
Daniel Lang, Bachelor Thesis, 2023 Strong Unlinkability for Adaptor Signatures
Julian Kotzur, Master Thesis, 2023 Signature Security Revisited: One Dice to Rule Them All