Postquantum Cryptology for Group Theorists
Time and place
4 PM on Friday, March 12th, 2010; GC 5417
Robert Gilman (Stevens Institute)
Abstract
It is well known that quantum computers have the potential to break public key cryptosystems in use today. The search for systems which are immune to quantum computer attacks is called postquantum cryptology. Typically the security of proposed systems depends on the difficulty of solving systems of multivariate polynomial equations over finite fields or on the difficulty of various computational problems from lattice theory; but since the introduction of the Anshel-Anshel-Goldfeld system, computational problems from group theory have become increasingly popular. Combinatorial group theory is a rich source of computational problems, but they are not all suitable foundations for cryptosystems. We will discuss the characteristics of a good problem and offer some suggestions for future research.
