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                   B O S T O N   U N I V E R S I T Y
                      Computer Science Department
                          C O L L O Q U I U M
                       Wednesday, Oct 17, 3:00 PM
                       (Coffee served at 2:45PM)
                         Seminar Room / MCS 135

                   CS  Faculty Research Overviews

                           Leonid Reyzin
                     "Why Applied Cryptography"
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Abstract:

Using a few high-profile examples, I will illustrate why ad-hoc
cryptographic designs are inadequate, and why precise definitions and
careful proofs are necessary in order to achieve practically useful
designs.  I will then present a few examples (including some from own
research) illustrating how precise definitions and careful proofs are
actually harder to obtain than one would think.  Finally, as an example of
the kind of work I do, I will go into some detail presenting a paper that
fixes imprecise definitions of others and reaps some unexpected rewards in
terms of efficiency.  The paper is "Soundness in the Public-Key Model,"
written jointly with Silvio Micali, and appears in Crypto 2001.