Public-key cryptography (PKC, or asymmetric cryptography) had a revolutionary effect on the theory of cryptography. PKC’s use of pure mathematical hard problems led to a study of academic, theoretical cryptography, where intricate systems could produce a wide range of applications.

These ideas quickly found a home in the early days of the Internet. However, the novelty of PKC led to a history of decades of subtle security vulnerabilities. Immature or incomplete understanding of highly technical mathematics, combined with deeply complex systems with large attack surfaces, has provided security researchers and cyber attackers alike with a steady source of faults. Many of these have severely compromised information exchanged on the Internet.

This talk will give examples of the issues introduced, examine common themes that they share, and show how they are a consequence of the nature of PKC. The talk is intended to be accessible to those without prior deep cryptographic knowledge.

This event is co-hosted with Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and is the forth session of the Quantum / Cyber Security Seminar Series.

This event will be conducted online and is open to the public. Registration is required.

Speaker

Dr. Daniel Shiu
Chief Cryptographer, Arqit

Dr. Daniel Shiu began his working life as an academic number theorist, before moving to GCHQ (the UK government's signal intelligence and cyber-security organization) to work on problems of theoretical and applied cryptography. Over several years at GCHQ, Dr. Shiu won numerous technical awards and held positions such as the Head of the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research and the Head of Cryptographic Design and Quantum Information. He was part of the Programme Operations Board that helped to establish the UK Quantum Technologies Programme, as well as contributing to UK Government Office of Science studies on topics such as quantum technologies and distributed ledgers. Since January 2021 he has been the Chief Cryptographer at Arqit, where works to build assurance in key establishment methods that do not rely on public-key cryptography.

Navigator

Dr. Kae Nemoto
Professor, OIST Graduate University
National Institute of Informatics