Cryptology

The cryptography group in the Information Security Institute has a large and active group of students and staff researching various aspects of cryptographic protocols and algorithms. We are always interested in taking on new research students with appropriate background knowledge and an interest in challenging problems in the area. This is a fast evolving field and so new application areas and technical problems are constantly emerging. Examples of topics currently available and/or in progress are:

• denial-of-service resistant cryptography;
• leakage-resistant cryptographic protocols;
• post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and protocols;
• privacy-enhancing security mechanisms;
• modelling human behaviour in authentication protocols;
• key derivation functions from stream ciphers;
• machine-assisted security proofs for cryptographic protocols.
  

Interested students should contact potential supervisors to discuss the availability of a suitable project. For these projects students will be expected to have a strong mathematical and computer science background. Previous experience in cryptography and networking is an advantage. Scholarships for some projects may be available.

Expertise

• Analysis and design of symmetric ciphers
• Analysis and design of public key algorithms
• Issues in global public key infrastructure (PKI)
• Proofs and specifications for cryptographic protocols
• Efficient software implementation
• Cryptographic protocols for control systems
• ID-based cryptography