Protik Kumar Paul

Research

My research covers secure multiparty computation (MPC), zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, private function evaluation (PFE) and privacy-preserving frameworks.

I design efficient protocols under demanding adversarial models and turn them into working systems. I developed the Asterisk and QuickPool frameworks, and I work in C++ with EMP-toolkit and ABY.

At TU Darmstadt, I co-supervised a PhD student on authenticated private function evaluation. I also supervised an M.Tech student on fair, helper-aided MPC with cheater identification, together with Dr. Divya Ravi (University of Amsterdam).

Publications

Authors are listed alphabetically.

• 2027

  Efficient Unbalanced Quorum-PSI via Secret-Shared PIR

  L. Bunaj, K. Edalatnejad, P. Paul, T. Schneider, M. Stillger. Under submission

• 2027

  Fair and Efficient Helper-Aided MPC with Cheater Identification

  M. Kamps, P. Paul, D. Ravi.
  IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P) (Core A*)
  ePrint

• 2026

  Breaking the Barrier for Asynchronous MPC with a Friend

  B. Karmakar, A. Kate, S. Patil, A. Patra, S. Patranabis, P. Paul, D. Ravi.
  IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P) (Core A*)
  ePrint

• 2026

  QuickPool: Privacy-Preserving Ride-Sharing Service

  B. Karmakar, S. Murthy, A. Patra, P. Paul.
  INDOCRYPT
  ePrint

• 2025

  Secure Evaluation of Authenticated Private Functions via MPC-Friendly Commitment

  J. Filipp, P. Paul, T. Schneider. Under submission

• 2024

  Asterisk: Super-fast MPC with a Friend

  B. Karmakar, N. Koti, A. Patra, S. Patranabis, P. Paul, D. Ravi.
  IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P) (Core A*)
  ePrint

• 2022

  Attaining GOD Beyond Honest Majority With Friends and Foes

  A. Hegde, N. Koti, V. B. Kukkala, S. Patil, A. Patra, P. Paul.
  ASIACRYPT (Core A)
  ePrint

• 2022

  How to Prove Any NP Statement Jointly? Efficient Distributed-Prover Zero-Knowledge Protocols

  P. Dayama, A. Patra, P. Paul, N. Singh, D. Vinayagamurthy.
  Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETS) (Core A)
  ePrint

Talks

• Sept 2026

  MPC with a Friend

  SysteMPC Workshop 2026, Prague, Czech Republic

• June 2024

  Asterisk: Super-fast MPC with a Friend

  TPMPC 2024, TU Darmstadt, Germany

• May 2024

  Asterisk: Super-fast MPC with a Friend

  IEEE S&P 2024, San Francisco, USA

• July 2022

  How to prove any NP statement jointly?

  PETS 2022, Sydney, Australia

Background

• Oct 2026 – now

  Postdoctoral Researcher

  Zero-Knowledge Group, University of Tartu, Estonia. Advisor: Prof. Helger Lipmaa

• Nov 2024 – Sep 2026

  Postdoctoral Researcher

  Encrypto Group, TU Darmstadt, Germany. Advisor: Prof. Thomas Schneider.

• 2018 – 2024

  Ph.D. in Computer Science

  Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. Advisor: Prof. Arpita Patra. Thesis: Ankora: Notions of Multi-party Computation and Zero-knowledge Beyond Conventional Models.

• 2019

  Research Intern, Blockchain group

  IBM IRL, working on zero-knowledge proofs

• 2017 – 2018

  Assistant Professor

  ITER College, SoA University, Bhubaneswar, India. Taught undergraduate Mathematics and Computer Science.

• 2015 – 2017

  M.Sc. in Mathematics

  IIT Bombay, India

• 2011 – 2014

  B.Sc. in Mathematics

  Asutosh College, Calcutta University, India

Service and awards

• Reviewing

  External reviewer for CCS, Eurocrypt, USENIX Security (2025, 2026) and WWW.

• 2016

  CSIR-UGC NET JRF, All India Rank 5 in Mathematical Science.

• 2015–16

  National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) MA/MSc Scholarship.

• 2015

  CSIR-UGC NET JRF, All India Rank 69 in Mathematical Science.

• 2015

  IIT-JAM Mathematics, All India Rank 10 out of 7765.

Gallery