# (Ching-Yuan) Alex Lin

Research @ Cognition; DEF CON CTF 2026 winner with perfect blue; ex-HRT FPGA, ex-Apple GPU ASIC  
Cognition  
New York City Metropolitan Area

## At Cognition

- Role: Research (Research)
- Joined: Jul 2026
- How they joined: Directly
- Before Cognition: FPGA Engineer, Hudson River Trading
- Overlapped before Cognition with other Cognition people at: Stanford University; Apple; Hudson River Trading (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/worked-together)

## Identity
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ching-yuan-alex-lin-646916172
- GitHub: https://github.com/VoidMercy
- Domain: cognition.ai

## Notes
- Cognition colleague Silas Alberti posted that "it's a blast to work with Sampriti & Alex on research at Cognition" after their team perfect blue won DEF CON CTF. (https://x.com/silasalberti/status/2087807669465956842)
- Cognition's official X account: "Congratulations to Cognition engineers @sampriti0 and Alex Lin for winning DEF CON CTF!" (210 likes), about a month after he joined. (https://x.com/cognition/status/2087678499167555764)
- GitHub account VoidMercy (display name Alex Lin, 119 followers) is a member of the perfectblue organization, matching the CTF team behind his DEF CON win, and hosts FPGA work matching his HRT/Apple hardware career. (https://github.com/voidmercy)
- Open-source: Lattice-ECP5-Bitstream-Decompiler, a bitstream-to-Verilog decompiler for the Lattice ECP5 FPGA chip, showing reverse-engineering at the hardware layer before his FPGA job at HRT. (https://github.com/VoidMercy/Lattice-ECP5-Bitstream-Decompiler)
- Open-source: Lattice-ECP5-Bitstream-Decompiler, a bitstream-to-Verilog decompiler for the Lattice ECP5 FPGA chip, showing reverse-engineering at the hardware layer before his FPGA job at HRT. (https://github.com/VoidMercy/Lattice-ECP5-Bitstream-Decompiler)
- The 2026 DEF CON CTF Finals were won by the joint team Blue Water, per GMO Internet Group's release; perfect blue (Alex's team) played as part of that coalition. (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260814041180/en/GMO-Internet-Groups-White-Hat-Hackers-Help-Blue-Water-Take-1st-Place-in-the-World-at-the-Worlds-Premier-DEF-CON-34-CTF-Finals)
- ASIC GPU Design Engineer at Apple in Cupertino (Jan 2022-Mar 2024) after an ASIC GPU Design internship there in summer 2021, overlapping his Stanford MS in Electrical Engineering (2022-2024). (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ching-yuan-alex-lin-646916172)
- Public headline says "Research @ Cognition". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ching-yuan-alex-lin-646916172)
- Stanford coursework repos on his GitHub include CS-348K 'Ray tracing gaussian splats' (3 stars, 2024), a CS231A final project, and CS-257 bit-vector decision procedure using DPLL(T), bit-blasting and ILP (2023), showing a turn toward graphics/GPU compute and formal methods during his MS. (https://github.com/voidmercy?tab=repositories)
- Contributed challenges to perfect blue's pbCTF 2021 (repo is C++/Verilog heavy). (https://github.com/perfectblue/pbCTF-2021-challs)
- Authored perfect blue's solve script for the Hack-A-Sat 2020 Quals 'Launch Link' challenge (space/satellite security CTF). (https://github.com/perfectblue/ctf-writeups/blob/master/2020/Hack-A-Sat-Quals/Launch-Link/solve.py)
- Purdue professor Antonio Bianchi's CV lists 'Alex Lin (CS) - Fall 2020' among mentored students; this lines up with his 2020 Systems Security Lab undergraduate research role at Purdue. (https://antoniobianchi.me/files/cv.pdf)
- Cognition signed a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf in July 2025 (IP, product, trademark and brand), a year before Alex joined; Windsurf/Devin Desktop is now part of the Cognition product line he works within. (https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf)
- Undergraduate TA for Purdue's ASIC Design Laboratory (spring 2021) and Computer Architecture (fall 2021); graduated BS Computer Engineering with Highest Distinction in Dec 2021, finishing in 3.5 years. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ching-yuan-alex-lin-646916172)
- Forked the angr binary-analysis framework in Aug 2020, during his Purdue systems-security research with Antonio Bianchi, an angr contributor. (https://github.com/voidmercy?tab=repositories)
- Early security track: Cyber Security Intern at Polito, Inc. (2019-2020) and AppSec Security Intern at GRIMM (SMFS, Inc.) in summer 2020. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ching-yuan-alex-lin-646916172)
- Previous roles include FPGA Engineer at Hudson River Trading; ASIC GPU Design Engineer at Apple; Computer Architecture UTA at Purdue University; ASIC GPU Design Intern at Apple; ASIC Design Laboratory UTA at Purdue University; Systems Security Lab Undergraduate Researcher at Purdue University; AppSec Security Intern at GRIMM (SMFS, Inc.); Cyber Security Intern at Polito, Inc. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ching-yuan-alex-lin-646916172)
- Named on Purdue College of Engineering Dean's List and Semester Honors as 'Ching-Yuan Alex Lin' (2018 fall semester). (https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/Academics/Undergraduate/AcademicHonors/2018_2)
- Location is New York City Metropolitan Area. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ching-yuan-alex-lin-646916172)

## Experience
- Research at Cognition (Jul 2026 - Present)
- FPGA Engineer at Hudson River Trading - New York City Metropolitan Area (Aug 2024 - Jul 2026)
- ASIC GPU Design Engineer at Apple - Cupertino, California, United States (Jan 2022 - Mar 2024)
- Computer Architecture UTA at Purdue University - West Lafayette, Indiana, United States (Aug 2021 - Dec 2021)
- ASIC GPU Design Intern at Apple - Cupertino, California, United States (May 2021 - Aug 2021)
- ASIC Design Laboratory UTA at Purdue University - West Lafayette, Indiana, United States (Jan 2021 - May 2021)
- Systems Security Lab Undergraduate Researcher at Purdue University - West Lafayette, Indiana, United States (Jan 2020 - Dec 2020)
- AppSec Security Intern at GRIMM (SMFS, Inc.) (May 2020 - Aug 2020)
- Cyber Security Intern at Polito, Inc. (Jan 2019 - May 2020)

## Education
- Stanford University - Master of Science - MS, Electrical Engineering - (Sep 2022 - Jun 2024)
- Purdue University - Bachelor's of Science, Computer Engineering - (Aug 2018 - Dec 2021): Graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Engineering with Highest Distinction.

## Sources
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ching-yuan-alex-lin-646916172
- https://x.com/cognition/status/2087678499167555764
- https://x.com/silasalberti/status/2087807669465956842
- https://github.com/voidmercy
- https://github.com/voidmercy?tab=repositories
- https://github.com/VoidMercy/Lattice-ECP5-Bitstream-Decompiler
- https://antoniobianchi.me/files/cv.pdf
- https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260814041180/en/GMO-Internet-Groups-White-Hat-Hackers-Help-Blue-Water-Take-1st-Place-in-the-World-at-the-Worlds-Premier-DEF-CON-34-CTF-Finals
- https://github.com/perfectblue/pbCTF-2021-challs
- https://github.com/perfectblue/ctf-writeups/blob/master/2020/Hack-A-Sat-Quals/Launch-Link/solve.py
- https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/Academics/Undergraduate/AcademicHonors/2018_2


Researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-04. Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/ching-yuan-alex-lin · Everyone at Cognition: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people