Nadim Kobeissi

Applied cryptographer. Mainly working in the cryptography auditing industry, but sometimes venturing back into academia.

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

Announcing the preliminary program for Cedarcrypt — our inaugural applied cryptography summer school and conference, July 13–16, 2026 at the American University of Beirut - Mediterraneo in Paphos, Cyprus!

We've put together a program we're genuinely proud of — a pedagogical progression from accessible foundations to state-of-the-art constructions, featuring lectures, hands-on workshops, and research talks from leading voices across academia and industry.

The program spans everything from accessible foundations to cutting-edge research: Bart Preneel (KU Leuven) opens with a keynote, followed by deep dives into FHE with Emad Heydari Beni (Nokia Bell Labs), state-of-the-art hash-based SNARKs with Giacomo Fenzi (EPFL), and Zero-Knowledge Proofs with Tarek Galal (TU Berlin). Practitioners will hear from Zeke Hunter-Green how The Guardian built their anonymous whistleblowing system (CoverDrop + MLS), and a host of other guest speakers who will help attendees learn post-quantum migration strategies across lattices, isogenies, and codes, and get hands-on with threshold signing, MPC engineering, and constant-time programming — all in four days on the Mediterranean coast.

Organized in collaboration with the IACR, and hosted on Cyprus's Mediterranean coast — a UNESCO World Heritage city where you can step from a workshop on threshold signing straight to a seaside taverna.

Thanks to our generous sponsors — Electi, PQShield, Symbolic Software, Zama, and several anonymous donors — we're offering FULL SCHOLARSHIPS (travel + lodging) to students and early-career researchers, awarded on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted.

Graduate students, early-career researchers, and practitioners in applied cryptography: we built this for you!

Join us this July in sunny Paphos! Let's make this an inaugural event to remember!

[Zo Brown @receipts_lol]

Quick way to tell if a journalist is a propagandist: Do they call it a "forced displacement" or "evacuation" notice when Israel says flee your home and town or we will murder you and your family.

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@THE_0UTERNET Fair criticism

[Kenneth Roth @KenRoth]

Supporting Israel used to be the norm in New York City. No more. Israel's genocide, apartheid, and endless occupation put an end to that. Today, supporting Israel has become the kiss of death among Democratic primary voters. https://t.co/RsX2eF6JAn

[Hamza Yusuf @Hamza_a96]

Every time these clips of Israelis in audiences go viral, it’s the same disbelief.

They genuinely can’t comprehend why people resent a country that burns babies alive. The delusion runs deep.

[little-scale @littlescale]

Alright folks it's the big one. I've always wanted to make music on the SEGA Mega Drive. How about you? I am beyond excited to introduce you to genmddj, a fully-featured tracker for SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis / Nomad that runs natively on hardware and emulation.

[空箱職人 はるきる @02ESyRaez4VhR2l]

カレドショコラの空箱で工作しました！

[Sasha Frere-Jones @sashafrerejones]

“I am the one who shot your son. God willing, he will die”. Read the full UN report on "Israel"'s targeting of children, linked below.

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@thebigmoop_ I agree

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@Temsik_Park I agree:

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

My ultimate verdict on Deltarune Chapter 5 after thinking about it carefully for a day:

This is a great chapter.

Story: many have said that the pacing is glacial. This isn’t entirely true. The first half of the chapter does contain significant advancements, namely in relationship-building between Susie and Noelle. Furthermore, the rest of the chapter is peppered with advancements in Ralsei character building, Hometown history and lore, and more. The problem here is that people are mistaking confirmations for things we had already correctly guessed due to foreshadowing for “lack of story progress”. I will say though that in my case, I was certainly surprised by the lack of clarity on IMAGE_FRIEND, to the point that I was actually convinced that Flowery *was* secretly FRIEND for the entire chapter (this was supported by his relationship with Ralsei and his ability to change the game’s options menu.) Overall I agree that the pacing was too slow in certain respects. For instance, I don’t think it was okay to still be vague about why Asgore was fired from the police department, or what happened to Dess. The ending with Susie’s homecoming in the dark world is brilliant specifically because it can be interpreted as both heartwarming (yay, friends! Banners for Noelle!) or deeply sad and distressing (she’s living in a dark supply closet playing make-believe, talking to objects and eating fake food.)

Gameplay: By far the best out of all four chapters. Ultra creative mechanics and fantastic battles. I will say though that the secret boss simply did not at all live up to masterpieces like Jevil, Spamton Neo and Gerson. Felt uninspired in comparison.

Artwork and sprite graphics/pixel art: By far the best out of all four chapters. Hands-down. Unbelievable art direction and incredible sprite work throughout. Wow!

Characters: this chapter’s nature as a “filler arc” makes all the characters temporary, and that has to be taken into account. That said, they were all wonderful. I loved Aqua probably the most, but the writing for them all was original, thoughtful, intelligent and deeply funny (e.g. Blue’s “Mr. Butterfly”, Yellow’s “justice”, etc.). Flowery himself was really well-executed. The voice clips are the cherry on top of a perfect blend of a childlike subconscious interpretation of the Americanization of a 1990s character trope.

Music: this is where I was disappointed the most. Aside from a couple of outstanding tracks (especially “Flower Man”), we had none of the melodic genius of Third Sanctuary, TV World or The World Revolving. I’m sorry to say this, but I felt that Toby largely phoned it in this time. This is understandable given how massive Deltarune’s soundtrack is by now, but it’s still too bad.

#deltarune

[blue @bluewmist]

the older i get the more i realize how simple a good life really is. wake up early. lift 3x a week. walk 30 minutes a day. eat real food. drink water. sleep well. read. obsess over something that matters. spend time with loved ones. avoid drama. be grateful. you'll already be healthier and happier than 95% of people.

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@MF720_C I agree

[darcy @homophove]

its interesting to see how divided people are on chapter 5.

I feel like most if not all of people's problems with the chapter would be alleviated if Toby had chosen to release Deltarune like a normal video game instead of releasing it like a Roblox Indie Horror Game

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@homophove Very good point

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@UmutOnLoose Could’ve meant parade them alive

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@FoolPlanet I think that we’re entitled to expect a little bit more answers without being castigated as wanting a “Dess shaped holes” being filled tbh. It’s just unnatural for the writing to talk so much about Asgore and his being fired from the police without discussing *why*

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@SmashRookie @FoolPlanet Good point

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@NyxTheShield @Floradinn0624 100%!

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

My ultimate verdict on Deltarune Chapter 5 after thinking about it carefully for a day:

This is a great chapter.

Story: many have said that the pacing is glacial. This isn’t entirely true. The first half of the chapter does contain significant advancements, namely in relationship-building between Susie and Noelle. Furthermore, the rest of the chapter is peppered with advancements in Ralsei character building, Hometown history and lore, and more. The problem here is that people are mistaking confirmations for things we had already correctly guessed due to foreshadowing for “lack of story progress”. I will say though that in my case, I was certainly surprised by the lack of clarity on IMAGE_FRIEND, to the point that I was actually convinced that Flowery *was* secretly FRIEND for the entire chapter (this was supported by his relationship with Ralsei and his ability to change the game’s options menu.) Overall I agree that the pacing was too slow in certain respects. For instance, I don’t think it was okay to still be vague about why Asgore was fired from the police department, or what happened to Dess. The ending with Susie’s homecoming in the dark world is brilliant specifically because it can be interpreted as both heartwarming (yay, friends! Banners for Noelle!) or deeply sad and distressing (she’s living in a dark supply closet playing make-believe, talking to objects and eating fake food.)

Gameplay: By far the best out of all four chapters. Ultra creative mechanics and fantastic battles. I will say though that the secret boss simply did not at all live up to masterpieces like Jevil, Spamton Neo and Gerson. Felt uninspired in comparison.

Artwork and sprite graphics/pixel art: By far the best out of all four chapters. Hands-down. Unbelievable art direction and incredible sprite work throughout. Wow!

Characters: this chapter’s nature as a “filler arc” makes all the characters temporary, and that has to be taken into account. That said, they were all wonderful. I loved Aqua probably the most, but the writing for them all was original, thoughtful, intelligent and deeply funny (e.g. Blue’s “Mr. Butterfly”, Yellow’s “justice”, etc.). Flowery himself was really well-executed. The voice clips are the cherry on top of a perfect blend of a childlike subconscious interpretation of the Americanization of a 1990s character trope.

Music: this is where I was disappointed the most. Aside from a couple of outstanding tracks (especially “Flower Man”), we had none of the melodic genius of Third Sanctuary, TV World or The World Revolving. I’m sorry to say this, but I felt that Toby largely phoned it in this time. This is understandable given how massive Deltarune’s soundtrack is by now, but it’s still too bad.

#deltarune

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@crowdeacon This is really great

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

@crowdeacon This is a really great review and I agree with almost all of your points. I was a bit kinder but much less detailed:

[Nadim Kobeissi @kaepora]

My ultimate verdict on Deltarune Chapter 5 after thinking about it carefully for a day:

This is a great chapter.

Story: many have said that the pacing is glacial. This isn’t entirely true. The first half of the chapter does contain significant advancements, namely in relationship-building between Susie and Noelle. Furthermore, the rest of the chapter is peppered with advancements in Ralsei character building, Hometown history and lore, and more. The problem here is that people are mistaking confirmations for things we had already correctly guessed due to foreshadowing for “lack of story progress”. I will say though that in my case, I was certainly surprised by the lack of clarity on IMAGE_FRIEND, to the point that I was actually convinced that Flowery *was* secretly FRIEND for the entire chapter (this was supported by his relationship with Ralsei and his ability to change the game’s options menu.) Overall I agree that the pacing was too slow in certain respects. For instance, I don’t think it was okay to still be vague about why Asgore was fired from the police department, or what happened to Dess. The ending with Susie’s homecoming in the dark world is brilliant specifically because it can be interpreted as both heartwarming (yay, friends! Banners for Noelle!) or deeply sad and distressing (she’s living in a dark supply closet playing make-believe, talking to objects and eating fake food.)

Gameplay: By far the best out of all four chapters. Ultra creative mechanics and fantastic battles.

Artwork and sprite graphics/pixel art: By far the best out of all four chapters. Hands-down. Unbelievable art direction and incredible sprite work throughout. Wow!

Characters: this chapter’s nature as a “filler arc” makes all the characters temporary, and that has to be taken into account. That said, they were all wonderful. I loved Aqua probably the most, but the writing for them all was original, thoughtful, intelligent and deeply funny (e.g. Blue’s “Mr. Butterfly”, Yellow’s “justice”, etc.). Flowery himself was really well-executed. The voice clips are the cherry on top of a perfect blend of a childlike subconscious interpretation of the Americanization of a 1990s character trope.

Music: this is where I was disappointed the most. Aside from a couple of outstanding tracks (especially “Flower Man”), we had none of the melodic genius of Third Sanctuary, TV World or The World Revolving. I’m sorry to say this, but I felt that Toby largely phoned it in this time. This is understandable given how massive Deltarune’s soundtrack is by now, but it’s still too bad.

#deltarune