Keylogging and phishing attacks can extract user identity and sensitive account information for unauthorized access to users’ financial accounts. Most existing or proposed solutions are vulnerable to session hijacking attacks. We propose a simple approach to counter these attacks, which cryptographically separates a user’s long-term secret input from (typically untrusted) client PCs; a client P...

Two-party protocols have been considered for a long time. Currently, there is a renewed effort to revisit specific protocols to gain efficiency. As an example, one may quote the breakthrough of [BF97], bringing a new solution to the problem of secretly generating RSA keys, which itself goes back to the pioneering work by Yao [Yao86]. The AllOr-Nothing Disclosure of Secrets protocol (ANDOS) was ...

We consider the reconstruction of shared secrets in communication networks, which are modelled by graphs whose components are subject to possible failure. The reconstruction probability can be approximated using minimal cuts, if the failure probabilities of vertices and edges are close to zero. As the main contribution of this paper, node separators are used to design a heuristic for the near-o...

Recursive Visual cryptography takes the idea from the basic scheme of Visual cryptography to hide multiple secrets recursively in the single image. [1] This paper proposes a scheme of recursive creation of shares using the basic scheme and embedding secrets into the shares. This results levels of share creation i.e. nsecrets equals n/2 levels. This paper also provides secured authentication for...

We present a new protocol for the following task. Given tow secrets a, b shared among n players, compute the value g. The protocol uses the generic BGW approach for multiplication of shared secrets, but we show that if one is computing “multiplications in the exponent” the polynomial randomization step can be avoided (assuming the Decisional Diffie-Hellman Assumption holds). This results in a n...

As organisms age, they accumulate cellular damage. Stem cells are needed to replenish tissues, but the damage they sustain over time compromises their ability to maintain healthy tissue function. A number of recent papers further our understanding of how stem cells are vulnerable to or protected from damage. Stem cells may possess intrinsic protective mechanisms that keep them healthy. For inst...

This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text. No parts of this dissertation have been submitted for any other qualification. This dissertation does not exceed the regulation length of 60, 000 words, including tables and footnotes. To Fletcher, for teaching me the value of ha...

Practitioners of optimization-based decision support advise commerce and government on how to coordinate the activities of millions of people who employ assets worth trillions of dollars. The contributions of these practitioners substantially improve planning methods that benefit our security and welfare. The success of realworld optimization applications depends on a few trade secrets that are...

Retreating ice spills secrets Thanks to climate change, glacial archaeology is a burgeoning field. It involves rescuing artifacts, the past’s secrets, as they melt out of high-mountain ice. You might call it new icy frontier. Each year, from August through September—peak season, hikers may know—a group hardy archaeologists and trusted helpers based in Innlandet, Norway, makes strenuous chilly t...

Researchers and other (human) actors within the apparatus of animal experimentation find themselves in a tight corner. They rely on public acceptance to promote their legitimacy and to receive funding. At the same time, those working with animal experimentation take risks by going public, fearing that the public will misunderstand their work and animal rights activists may threaten them. The di...