The Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo assembles what is arguably the strongest research group worldwide on the topic of security and privacy of computerized information, offering a unique combination of talents in cryptography, privacy, security and the quantum environment.
The University of Waterloo's Department of Combinatorics and Optimization, from its inception with Professor Bill Tutte, is recognized worldwide for its excellence in the field of cryptography. Research within the Cheriton School of Computer Science introduces unique talents in computer privacy and security and Department of Pure Mathematics research on elliptic curves introduces additional depth and significance to the overall program of study. In addition, the Centre for Applied Cryptographic Research (CACR) brings together researchers across the UWaterloo campus who are involved in developing security solutions for today's computerized devices.
Within the Department of Combinatorics & Optimization:
- Alfred Menezes is an author of the well-reputed Handbook of Applied Cryptography. He is one of the inventors of an authenticated protocol for key agreement known as Menezes–Qu–Vanstone (MQV), which was adopted by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He is an expert in elliptic curve cryptography, the underlying discrete logarithm problem, and efficient implementations and protocols.
- David Jao is an expert in number theory and cryptography, with an emphasis on elliptic and hyperelliptic curve cryptography. He holds six patents in privacy and security-preserving technologies and regularly consults for Microsoft Research and the U.S. government.
- Michele Mosca has made major contributions to the theory and practice of quantum algorithms, quantum self-testing and private quantum channels, and has realized several of the first experimental implementations of quantum algorithms. He leads a new CREATE Training Program in Building a Workforce for the Cryptographic Infrastructure of the 21st Century and is currently Deputy Director of the Institute for Quantum Computing (which includes a group of other researchers whose work connects to the theme of quantum cryptography).
- Edlyn Teske-Wilson contributes research on public-key cryptosystems and elliptic curve technology.
Within the Cheriton School of Computer Science, the Cryptography, Security and Privacy (CrySP) research group integrates research in the related subfields of computer security and computer privacy.
- Ian Goldberg is an internationally recognized innovator in privacy enhancing technologies. He is involved in research that provides users with the ability to maintain their privacy while obtaining real-time access to the Web (of increasing value for regimes where citizens may have their abilities in cyberspace curtailed). He has also significant expertise in private information retrieval.
- Doug Stinson is a pioneer in combinatorial cryptography, having used combinatorial structures in innovative ways to design and analyze unconditionally secure cryptosystems including secret sharing schemes, authentication codes and key distribution schemes. He was the first to propose the use of Reed-Solomon codes for tracing codes that were later incorporated into BluRay Disc technology. His book Cryptography Theory and Practice is the prominent text for the field of cryptography. His current interests include cryptographic solutions for the cloud.
- Urs Hengartner conducts research on the security and privacy of emerging mobile and distributed systems, such as location-based services, mobile social computing and e-voting.
- Ian McKillop has interests in the security of high-availability, mission-critical systems that are commonly used in such applications as banking and healthcare.
- Cam Stewart from the Pure Mathematics department is a Canada Research Chair in Number Theory. His research applies to the study of elliptic curves, the fundamental mathematics that lies at the heart of today's cryptographic solutions for industry.
Other Mathematics faculty researchers connected to CACR whose work is of particular note for addressing the security and privacy challenges of today include Ming Li who has built an innovative voice system for question answering on mobile devices, responding to English and Chinese questions from speakers. Critical issues of privacy of voiceprint information arise. Another key CACR researcher is Srinivasan Keshav, who has examined the development of censorship-tolerant content distribution networks.