Authenticated Dictionaries with Fully Untrusted Servers

PhD Qualifying Examination


Title: "Authenticated Dictionaries with Fully Untrusted Servers"

by

Mr. Jiajun XIN


Abstract:

The emergence of the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem and 
cryptocurrency assets has led to increased demand for verifiability, 
auditing, and regulation of involved markets. This has led researchers and 
industry to explore the design of mechanisms that can provide strong 
security guarantees. One particular such mechanism is the authenticated 
dictionary (AD), a cryptographic primitive that allows an untrusted server 
to prove the correctness of data. In the dynamic case, AD is further 
extended to be “append-only” which requires the server to update by only 
inserting new entries without deleting. The append-only authenticated 
dictionary (AAD) has already found its irreplaceable application in 
enhancing the security of the public-key infrastructure.

Moreover, the AAD can be further extended to support various functions 
over the committed set. One such representative is Proofs of Liabilities 
(PoLs), an AAD with proof of sum for all committed values. PoLs have 
recently been adopted by cryptocurrency exchange platforms to prove their 
solvency and find their applications in proof of assets, decentralized 
loans, and more.


Date:			Friday, 10 March 2023

Time:                  	3:30pm - 5:30pm

Venue:                  Room 2406
                         Lifts 17/18

Committee Members:	Dr. Dimitris Papadopoulos (Supervisor)
  			Dr. Amir Goharshady (Chairperson)
 			Prof. Cunsheng Ding
 			Prof. Ke Yi


**** ALL are Welcome ****