Professor Han Dong-guk of the Department of Information Security and Cryptography at Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung Ryul) received the “36th Award for Outstanding Papers in Science and Technology,” organized by the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST).
  
On Wednesday, September 30, KFST held a ceremony commemorating its 60th anniversary in the International Conference Room of the Korea Science and Technology Hall and announced its future vision: “A People-Centered Future Opened Together Through Science and Technology.” The 36th Science and Technology Excellence in Research Paper Award was presented during the ceremony.
  
The Award for Outstanding Papers in Science and Technology is presented annually by KofST to scientists and engineers who have published outstanding research achievements, with the aim of revitalizing domestic research in science and technology and boosting researchers’ motivation. Outstanding papers in each field are selected and awarded following recommendations and evaluations by domestic science and technology-related academic societies. 
Professor Han Dong-guk was selected as this year’s recipient after being recommended by the Korean Information Security Society, in recognition of his outstanding research achievements in the field of engineering.
  
Professor Han Dong-guk stated, “This award is particularly meaningful to me because it is the result of the efforts of the SICADA Lab research team with whom I have been collaborating.” He added, “I will continue to identify new research topics in the field of hardware security for information security and conduct research that contributes to the advancement of industry and national science and technology.”
  
Meanwhile, the SICADA Lab primarily conducts research on post-quantum cryptography (PQC), side-channel analysis (SCA) of block ciphers, and fault injection attacks (FIA). The lab is researching technologies to securely implement cryptographic algorithms by developing methods to assess security vulnerabilities in commercial devices, such as drones, using statistical side-channel analysis, deep learning-based analysis, and fault injection attacks, as well as countermeasures against these threats. Recently, the lab received the 2nd place Chungmugong Award at the 2025 Patent Technology Awards for a technology that provides resistance to side-channel attacks on post-quantum cryptography (PQC)—which is secure even against quantum computing attacks—and, as the host university of the and has been selected as the lead university for the “Glocal Lab Defense Technology Protection Research Institute,” a project supported by the Ministry of Education. To help defense and military industry companies secure global competitiveness in the field of weapons system security, the university will receive 2.4 billion won annually for nine years—a total of 21.6 billion won in government funding.