CyLab

Distinguished seminar: Zcash, payment privacy, and beyond with Ian Miers

April 02, 2018

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET

DEC, CIC 1201

This event is part of the CyLab Distinguished Seminar Series.

Abstract

Blockchains have received considerable attention both in academia and industry. Much of this work has focused on how to improve blockchains themselves either in terms of performance, features, or theoretical underpinnings. This talk will focus on a different question: what can blockchains do for computer security and cryptography? It will cover blockchains as a solution to pre-existing problems with anonymous credentials and e-cash, fairness in MPC, and more broadly as a tool for assured communication and state-keeping in cryptographic protocols.

Bio

Ian MiersIan Miers is a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell Tech working on computer security and applied cryptography. His work focuses on improving the security and privacy of emerging technologies. This includes Zerocoin and Zerocash, the first systems to provide strongly private payments on top of public blockchains, and work improving mobile messaging including attacks on iMessage and new techniques for puncturable forward secure encryption. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Economist, and denounced in at least two op-eds. He is one of the founders of Zcash, a privacy preserving cryptocurrency based on Zerocash.

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