Undergraduate Mathematical Sciences Seminar

Thursday, January 22, 2009, 12:30 -- 1:50pm

PAA A110

Modern Cryptography: In the Overlap of Math and Computer Science

Neal Koblitz, Professor, UW Department of Mathematics

Abstract: In this talk I will survey the different types of contributions to public key cryptography that come out of mathematics and out of computer science. I will discuss the search for "hard" mathematical problems, the difference between a "primitive" and a "protocol", and some of the controversies that have arisen in the design of cryptosystems.