Design of Secure Electronic Voting Systems. It is inevitable that electronic voting will eventually replace current paper based voting schemes. The main outcome of the research will be the fundamental knowledge required to develop secure electronic voting schemes. The security aspects of the design will be thoroughly analysed to ensure that the integrity of the ballot is maintained without compromising user privacy. The practical aspects of implementing such a system will also be investigated ....Design of Secure Electronic Voting Systems. It is inevitable that electronic voting will eventually replace current paper based voting schemes. The main outcome of the research will be the fundamental knowledge required to develop secure electronic voting schemes. The security aspects of the design will be thoroughly analysed to ensure that the integrity of the ballot is maintained without compromising user privacy. The practical aspects of implementing such a system will also be investigated and a prototype implementation provided. The project will combine the expertise in electronic voting schemes at QUT with that of Dr Lee.Read moreRead less
Secure Electronic Voting with Flexible Ballot Structure. It is inevitable that electronic voting will eventually replace current paper based voting schemes. Despite considerable research no secure solution is available for an electronic voting scheme allowing complex election rules, such as preferential voting used in Australia. The main outcome of the research will be the fundamental knowledge required to develop general secure and flexible electronic voting schemes. The security aspects of the ....Secure Electronic Voting with Flexible Ballot Structure. It is inevitable that electronic voting will eventually replace current paper based voting schemes. Despite considerable research no secure solution is available for an electronic voting scheme allowing complex election rules, such as preferential voting used in Australia. The main outcome of the research will be the fundamental knowledge required to develop general secure and flexible electronic voting schemes. The security aspects of the design will be thoroughly analysed to ensure that the integrity of the ballot is maintained without compromising user privacy. The practical aspects of implementing such a system will also be investigated and a prototype implementaion provided.Read moreRead less
Secure and Efficient Electronic Auctions. For the first time in history electronic commerce promises the possibility of auctions to decide the correct market price for a widespread variety of everyday goods and services. Security and efficiency are critical factors in making this a reality, but almost all the many protocols for secure auctions proposed to date suffer from extreme computational requirements. This project will develop efficient and secure auction protocols using innovative approac ....Secure and Efficient Electronic Auctions. For the first time in history electronic commerce promises the possibility of auctions to decide the correct market price for a widespread variety of everyday goods and services. Security and efficiency are critical factors in making this a reality, but almost all the many protocols for secure auctions proposed to date suffer from extreme computational requirements. This project will develop efficient and secure auction protocols using innovative approaches based on advanced cryptographic techniques. In particular we will pioneer the exploration of secure microauctions suitable for negotiating the price of small value goods and utilities in almost real time.Read moreRead less
Internet authentication protocols: theory and practice. Authentication is the foundation for secure electronic communication. It is the first step for many everyday online processes such as remote login or electronic banking. This project aims to make analysis of such protocols more realistic and more complete, allowing online communication to become more secure for both corporate users and individuals.
Technical and Legal Models for Virtual Info-Sharing Networks (VISN) for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP). This project has substantial national benefit because it will result in the design of a virtual information sharing network (VISN) that will better protect Australia's critical infrastructure. It will provide a comprehensive legal/technical analysis of the requirements/characteristics necessary for the development of a VISN. The development of a secure environment for a VISN will i ....Technical and Legal Models for Virtual Info-Sharing Networks (VISN) for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP). This project has substantial national benefit because it will result in the design of a virtual information sharing network (VISN) that will better protect Australia's critical infrastructure. It will provide a comprehensive legal/technical analysis of the requirements/characteristics necessary for the development of a VISN. The development of a secure environment for a VISN will improve industry trust and confidence in participating in the sharing of sensitive information; especially the disclosure of potential vulnerabilities or ascertained potential threats. The project will improve information dissemination speeds and assist post information disclosure controls. Read moreRead less
Specifications, Proofs and Animations for Cryptographic Protocols. Cryptographic protocols are fundamental security tools for electronic communications. Despite years of intensive research it remains difficult to obtain high confidence in the security of almost any new protocol. Research in the computer security community has emphasised formal specifications and state based searching, while the cryptographic community has concentrated instead on complexity theoretic proofs. This project will un ....Specifications, Proofs and Animations for Cryptographic Protocols. Cryptographic protocols are fundamental security tools for electronic communications. Despite years of intensive research it remains difficult to obtain high confidence in the security of almost any new protocol. Research in the computer security community has emphasised formal specifications and state based searching, while the cryptographic community has concentrated instead on complexity theoretic proofs. This project will unify these two approaches for the first time by formally specifying and animating the very models used in cryptographic proofs. The result will be proofs that are uniquely accessible to practioners combined with increased confidence that the proofs are both correct and relevant.Read moreRead less
Post-Quantum Functional Encryption : Principles, Protocols and Practice. Modern cryptography has the power to revolutionise virtually every aspect of our online lives. Large-scale secure data sharing could become a breeze, with tools such as functional encryption (FE) to give us fine control over access rights by means of expressive languages, and there will be no more juggling of crypto keys. Finally, the known foundations of FE will crumble when even small-sized quantum computers become realit ....Post-Quantum Functional Encryption : Principles, Protocols and Practice. Modern cryptography has the power to revolutionise virtually every aspect of our online lives. Large-scale secure data sharing could become a breeze, with tools such as functional encryption (FE) to give us fine control over access rights by means of expressive languages, and there will be no more juggling of crypto keys. Finally, the known foundations of FE will crumble when even small-sized quantum computers become reality, perhaps next decade. This project aims to recreate and expand the power of FE from post-quantum (PQ) mathematical principles, immune to quantum attacks, building on recent discoveries of limited forms of PQ-FE from rock-solid crypto principles. It begs exploring, for the truly spectacular outcomes likely to ensue.Read moreRead less
Secure Communications for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems. Control systems are crucial to the nation's critical infrastructure. They supervise and command the remote devices used in the energy distribution, water management, telecommunications, and transport industries. Historically, security has not been a concern in the design of control systems communications, which has resulted in their current vulnerable state. This project will establish the communications security requirements ....Secure Communications for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems. Control systems are crucial to the nation's critical infrastructure. They supervise and command the remote devices used in the energy distribution, water management, telecommunications, and transport industries. Historically, security has not been a concern in the design of control systems communications, which has resulted in their current vulnerable state. This project will establish the communications security requirements of control systems technologies and propose suitable secure communications schemes. New cryptographic protocols and analytic models will be developed to account for the criticality and operational peculiarities of control systems communications. These results are of significant potential value to Australia's critical infrastructure protection.Read moreRead less
Security Applications of Combinatorial Puzzles. This project provides a basis for improving the implementation and maintenance of key management systems. The application of discrete mathematics to information security will help safeguard Australia, will provide opportunities for Australians to take a leading role in an important area and will develop a research network, bridging both theoretical and practical aspects of mathematics and computer science. The project will enhance Australia's inter ....Security Applications of Combinatorial Puzzles. This project provides a basis for improving the implementation and maintenance of key management systems. The application of discrete mathematics to information security will help safeguard Australia, will provide opportunities for Australians to take a leading role in an important area and will develop a research network, bridging both theoretical and practical aspects of mathematics and computer science. The project will enhance Australia's international reputation by establishing collaborations with well-respected international mathematicians and computer scientists. The proposal contains topics suitable for the training of new graduates, allowing them to make high quality original research contributions in a novel and important area. Read moreRead less
Timed Commitment Schemes to Smooth Internet Bottlenecks, Defend against Denial of Service Attacks, and Bypass Some Legal Problems of Enccryption. Bottlenecks on the Internet and Denial of Service attacks on a server are both caused by excessive demands made on a system. This proposal is to reduce the ill-effects of either by building on our previous theoretical work on strongboxes of combinatorial designs. In the case of bottlenecks, the demands are legitimate but badly timed, and our approach ....Timed Commitment Schemes to Smooth Internet Bottlenecks, Defend against Denial of Service Attacks, and Bypass Some Legal Problems of Enccryption. Bottlenecks on the Internet and Denial of Service attacks on a server are both caused by excessive demands made on a system. This proposal is to reduce the ill-effects of either by building on our previous theoretical work on strongboxes of combinatorial designs. In the case of bottlenecks, the demands are legitimate but badly timed, and our approach will redistribute the demands more evenly. In the case of Denial of Service attacks, the demands are malicious, and our approach will respond in such a way as to deplete the resources of the attacker.Read moreRead less