Idealized Models in Cryptography: What, Why, and Where to Now?

Location: TU Wien, FAV Hörsaal 2 (Favoritenstraße 9-11, Erdgeschoß) (HEEG03)
Virtual location: https://tuwien.zoom.us/j/61754215208
Date/Time: 2024-11-26 15:00 ‒ 16:00

Abstract: Provable security is the science of building cryptographic protocols out of building blocks in a sound way. Namely, one proves the only way to break a protocol is to break one of the building blocks. But does every secure protocol have such a proof? What if we can’t find one? This talk will introduce the concept of “idealized models,” which are artificial models of computation created by cryptographers to address this issue. We will describe what idealized models are and why they are used. Then, we will describe our on-going line of research aimed at better analyses in such models, as well as ultimately transitioning the proofs to do without idealized models. This gives greater assurance in the security of many widely used cryptographic protocols. The talk will be high-level and not assume previous knowledge of cryptography.

Bio: Adam O’Neill is an Assistant Professor in the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology and held postdoctoral appointments at the University of Texas at Austin and Boston University. Recently, he received the CRYPTO 2022 Test-of-Time Award.