Validation of Cryptographic Protocols by Efficient Automated Testing

We present a method for validating cryptographic protocols. The method can find flaws which are inherent i~l the design of the protocol as well as flaws arising from the particular implementation of the protocol. The latter possibility arises from the fact that there is no universally accepted standard for describing either the cryptographic protocols themselves or their implementation. Thus, security call (and in practice does) depend on decisions made by tlm implementer, who may not have the necessary expertise. Our method relics on automatic theorem proving tools. Specifically, wc used "Otter", an automatic theorem proving software developed at Argonne National Laboratories.