As we close the chapter on another intense year, I want to take a moment to look back at what we have achieved together. 2025 has been a year defined by extensive research, new collaborations, and significant milestones.
From advancing the state of the art in malware analysis and memory forensics to exploring the capabilities of Large Language Models in security, our output has been prolific. We have published extensively in top-tier venues, covering topics ranging from approximate similarity search systems such as APOTHEOSIS or malware analysis tools such as MALVADA, to the detection of algorithmically generated domains.
It’s All About the Team
However, papers and code are just the visible result of something much more important: the people.
I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the entire team. To the (former and current) PhD students, researchers, and collaborators of our team: thank you. Your sleepless nights, your resilience when experiments failed, and your creativity in solving complex problems are the driving force behind this lab. This year’s success belongs entirely to your hard work and dedication — thx folks ❤️!.
Awards and Recognition
This year, our collective effort was recognized not just through publications, but through several awards that highlight the quality and impact of our work. I am incredibly proud to announce the following honors received by our team members in 2025:
- A “Grand Slam” at DFRWS 2025: We had an exceptional run at the Digital Forensics Research Workshop this year, both academically and competitively:
- Best Student Paper (DFRWS USA): A massive congratulations to Daniel Huici for this outstanding recognition for his work on “An Extensible and Scalable System for Hash Lookup and Approximate Similarity Search” (you can read more here).
- The “Jimmy Three Pockets” World Tour: Our competitive team, “Jimmy Three Pockets,” in a joint effort with our colleagues from FKIE, proved its skills globally. We secured the 2nd Prize at the DFRWS USA Rodeo (Daniel Huici and myself), and later claimed the 1st Prize at the DFRWS APAC Rodeo (only me this time).
- RENIC Best PhD Thesis Award: Congratulations to Daniel Uroz for receiving the award for the Best Doctoral Thesis from the Spanish Network of Excellence in Cybersecurity research (RENIC). More details here (in Spanish), and the full PhD thesis here.
- “Tercer Milenio” Research Award (Runner-up): We were honored with the Accésit (Special Mention) in this prestigious regional research competition. More details here (in Spanish).
- Cybersecurity Final Degree Projects Contest (Runner-up): Congratulations to Alain Villagrasa-Labrador for this recognition for the high quality of his work with an Accésit in this national competition.
- 1st Prize at “Cyber Arena” Hackathon: A shout-out to the team (Razvan Raducu, Daniel Huici, and Alain Villagrasa-Labrador) for demonstrating practical skills and taking home the top prize at the EUPT Hackathon. More details here (in Spanish).
- Araintel Award 2025: The RME-DisCo group was honored for its work in cybersecurity dissemination. This award comes from Araintel, a specialized agency in intelligence, defense, and hacking, whose motto “Hacking From Aragón” resonates deeply with our roots.
Looking Ahead
These awards are a validation of our “quality over quantity” approach and our commitment to reproducible science, seen in our efforts to release open-source tools and datasets. Recall that you can check all our research artifacts in our GitHub profile.
Thank you to everyone who supported us this year. Here is to an even more exciting 2026!
