Aydin Aysu

Biography
Dr. Aysu received his B.S degree in microelectronics engineering with a mathematics minor and his M.S degree in electrical engineering from Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey. He received his Ph.D. degree in computer engineering from Virginia Tech and was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin before he joined NC State. Dr. Aysu conducts research on cybersecurity with an emphasis on hardware-based security. The focus of his research is the development of secure systems that prevent advanced cyber attacks targeting hardware vulnerabilities. To that end, his research interests cover applied cryptography, computer architecture, and digital hardware design. He also works on cybersecurity education and the societal impacts of cybersecurity.
Education
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Ph.D.
2016
Computer Engineering
Virginia Tech -
Master's
2010
Electrical Engineering
Sabanci University, Turkey -
Bachelor's
2008
Microelectronics Engineering
Sabanci University, Turkey
Research Focus
- Computer Architecture and Systems
Funded Research
- PFI:TT: Embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to Secure the Semiconductor Supply Chain
- Enabling Secure and Efficient Sharing of Accelerators in Expeditionary Systems
- ML-Based Security Analysis and Mitigation of Homomorphic Encryption Side-Channels, CAEML Core Project 5A4
- CAREER: Physical Side-Channels Beyond Cryptography: Transforming the Side-Channel Framework for Deep Learning
- FPGA Hardware Accelerator for Real Time Security, CAEML Core Project
- Differential Power Analysis of Deep Neural Networks with Mitigation at the Architecture Level
- Enabling Side-Channel Attacks on Post-Quantum Protocols through Machine Learning, CAEML Core Project P18-13 funded with industry membership dues
- CRII: SaTC: Secure Instruction Set Extensions for Lattice-Based Post-Quantum Cryptosystems
Highlighted Awards
- NSF CAREER Award (2020)
- Bennett Faculty Fellow Award (2020)
Awards & Honors
- 2020 - Best Paper Award, Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference
- 2019 - Faculty Research and Professional Development Award (FRPD), NC State
- 2019- NSF Research Initiation Initiative (CRII) Award
- 2019- Best Paper Award, ACM Great Lake Symposium on VLSI, Microelectronic Systems Education
- 2019- Best Student Paper Nominee, IEEE International Conference on Hardware Security and Trust
- 2018- Best Paper Nominee, IEEE International Conference on Hardware Security and Trust
- 2017- Top 50 Article, IEEE Embedded System Letters
Recent News

New Approach From ECE Researchers Allows for Faster Ransomware Detection
Posted on May 19, 2022 | Filed Under: Research
NC State Electrical and Computer Engineering researchers have developed a new approach for implementing ransomware detection techniques, allowing them to detect a broad range of ransomware far more quickly than previous systems.

Aydin Aysu and Tianfu Wu Named Goodnight Early Career Innovators
Posted on April 26, 2022 | Filed Under: Awards
Congratulations to our two faculty members, Aydin Aysu and Tianfu Wu, for being recognized as a Goodnight Early Career Innovator!

NC State Faculty Members Awarded Funded Research for Secure Virtualization
Posted on September 20, 2021 | Filed Under: Research
The Office of Naval Research has granted Amro Awad and Aydin Aysu—both assistant professors of electrical and computer engineering at NC State—research funding to discover more secure virtualization techniques in hardware accelerators.
Recent Media Mentions

Researchers Demonstrate They Can Steal Data During Homomorphic Encryption
June 13, 2022
A group of academics from the North Carolina State University and Dokuz Eylul University have demonstrated “the first side-channel attack on homomorphic encryption” that could be exploited to leak data as the encryption process is underway.

Researchers Demonstrate New Side-Channel Attack on Homomorphic Encryption
March 3, 2022

NC State researchers find security vulnerabilities with some older iPhones
September 14, 2021
Recent Publications
- 2Deep: Enhancing Side-Channel Attacks on Lattice-Based Key-Exchange via 2-D Deep Learning (2021)
- An Efficient Non-Profiled Side-Channel Attack on the CRYSTALS-Dilithium Post-Quantum Signature (2021)
- Efficient, Flexible, and Constant-Time Gaussian Sampling Hardware for Lattice Cryptography (2021)
- FALCON Down: Breaking FALCON Post-Quantum Signature Scheme through Side-Channel Attacks (2021)
- Single-Trace Side-Channel Attacks on omega-Small Polynomial Sampling (2021)
- Stealing Neural Network Models through the Scan Chain: A New Threat for ML Hardware (2021)
- iTimed: Cache Attacks on the Apple A10 Fusion SoC (2021)
- BoMaNet: Boolean Masking of an Entire Neural Network (2020)
- High-Level Synthesis of Number-Theoretic Transform: A Case Study for Future Cryptosystems (2020)
- Machine Learning and Hardware security: Challenges and Opportunities -Invited Talk (2020)