The paper [1] is by Abadi [2], which is a pretty big name in crypto. So I can assume it's something with value, wether the press can or can't convey that is another story.
Pretty big name is a bit of an overstatement. A pretty big name in cryptography would be someone like Goldwasser/Goldreich/Micali/Bellare/Rivest/Bernstein/... and probably about 200 more before we get to Abadi.
[1] https://arxiv.org/pdf/1610.06918v1.pdf
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mart%C3%ADn_Abadi