“Здраво” from Danilo as well!

Greetings everybody, I am Danilo (Данило) and I come from Serbia. More specifically, I am from Belgrade, where I have finished all of my previous education. This includes B. Sc. and M. Sc. in Electrical Engineering and Computing from the University of Belgrade, at the Department of Electronics. Therefore, the majority of the curriculum I have attended was dedicated to hardware design.

Currently, I am starting a PhD program at COSIC under supervision of Prof. Ingrid Verbauwhede. The main area of my research will be lightweight cryptography for passively powered devices. This topic is quite intriguing from the perspective of technical challenges it presents. Considering tradeoffs between price, power consumption, and performance, I find no better words to depict the requirements of modern lightweight cryptography than ones from J. R. R. Tolkien: “As light as a feather and as hard as dragon scales.” On the other hand this topic interests me for the impact it might have for the society of tomorrow. Namely, ranging from RFID tags for access control, to medical implants that use implantees as power sources, these devices have the potential to provide various advantages to everyday life; as long as they are properly protected.

Regarding the ECRYPT-NET project itself, I can say that I am happy to be a part of it for two reasons. Firstly, I see it as a great opportunity to improve my technical knowledge, under supervision of world-renowned experts. Secondly, I salute the social and cultural aspects of working in an international, hence multicultural, group such as this one. All in all, I envision the years that are coming as very fruitful for all of us!

Lastly, I believe that the Summer School in Sardinia was a marvelous welcome to the ECRYPT-NET project, and am looking forward to seeing you all at the next one in Tenerife!