Francisco Rodríguez-Henríquez
Cryptography from algorithms to real systems.
Research, institutions, community, and impact.
Twenty years connecting mathematics, computer arithmetic, implementation, security analysis, and graduate training.
The research-school story → Community Co-founder of LATINCRYPT & ASCryptoBuilding recurring cryptography conferences and schools for the Latin American community since 2010.
Conference history ↗ Recognition 3 Best Paper Awards + 2 runner-up distinctionsCHES 2009, CHES 2013, CHES 2016, ASIACRYPT 2022, and EUROCRYPT 2025.
Award-winning papers → Cryptanalysis Characteristic-3 discrete-log recordA 2016 team computation in the 4,841-bit field GF(36·509), using about 200 core-years.
The record →Supervision and co-supervision across applied cryptography, finite-field arithmetic, elliptic curves, pairings, isogenies, security, and post-quantum cryptography.
Cryptographic engineering applied to institutional elections and an urgent public-health problem.
I work at the intersection of post-quantum cryptography, high-performance implementation, computer arithmetic, and the behavior of cryptographic choices inside real systems.
My recent work spans SQIsign and isogeny-based cryptography, efficient finite-field arithmetic, cryptanalysis, pairing-based techniques, and the practical migration of public-key systems to the post-quantum era.
Four threads, one question
How do we turn mathematically strong cryptography into implementations and systems that remain fast, auditable, and useful under real constraints?
Post-Quantum Cryptography
SQIsign, isogenies, post-quantum signatures, and migration of public-key cryptography.
High-Performance Cryptography
Finite-field arithmetic, vectorization, embedded architectures, and implementation co-design.
Cryptanalysis
Discrete logarithms, implementation-oriented cryptanalysis, and emerging links with machine learning.
Cryptography in Real Systems
What key sizes, signatures, computation, caching, and transport do to deployed protocols and infrastructure.
Selected publications
A short selection of recent work. The full bibliography is linked from the publications page.
Building places where cryptography happens
SAC Co-Chair
Selected Areas in Cryptography, University of Victoria.
AFRICACRYPT Program Co-Chair ↗
International Conference on Cryptology in Africa · Tunisia.
CRYPTO General Chair
45th Annual International Cryptology Conference.
TCHES Co-Editor-in-Chief
Editorial leadership for IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems.
IACR Board of Directors
Service to the international cryptologic research community.
LATINCRYPT co-founder
General Chair of the inaugural conference in Puebla, Mexico; co-founder of LATINCRYPT and ASCrypto.
A career across field arithmetic, elliptic curves and cryptography
I received my PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Oregon State University in 2000. After work in industry, I joined CINVESTAV in Mexico City, where I was a professor from 2002 to 2022 and one of the eleven founding professors of its Computer Science Department in 2006. Since 2021 I have been Technical Director at TII’s Cryptography Research Center in Abu Dhabi.
I am a co-founder of LATINCRYPT and ASCrypto. My work has ranged from finite-field and elliptic-curve arithmetic to pairings, discrete logarithms, isogeny-based cryptography, post-quantum implementations, and cryptanalysis.